Ashes
by tilante
Summary: Forgot my meds today, am really depressed, but felt a need to write anyway.  You've been warned.  Dark Jalex, not a part of the 'Alex Gets Punished' universe.
1. Burnt Letter  1

_They say this place is haunted_

_But I am the only ghost here_

I'm so damned tired of being the good boy. I'm tired of being the one who says 'no'. I'm tired of being responsible, of doing what I'm told, of doing what I _should_.

I'm seventeen years old, and I'm in love. I'm in love with a girl who I see every day, talk to every day, go home with. She sleeps in the next room, right across the hall from me, and sometimes, I lie awake at night, staring at my door as if looking hard enough would make it melt away, let me see her there.

Sometimes I sneak into her room at night, pull out her chair, sit and watch her. Yeah, I know it's creepy. I have no idea what I'd say to her if she woke up and found me there. And I know it's wrong - but it feels so right, and compared to what I want to do, it's nothing. So I tell myself it's okay.

I tell myself that maybe she feels the same way. I make up wild fantasies, where we run away together, hide from the rest of the world. Where she tells me she loves me too.

She's my sister. My little sister, who I'm supposed to protect, to guard. I'm supposed to love her, but not like this. I'm not supposed to want to run my fingers through her hair, to taste her lips, to feel the soft curves of her.

My whole life is a lie. Everyone thinks I'm the good boy, the good son, the good brother. But I look at her, and my hands itch to touch her, my heart aches like it could burst, and I feel like I want to cry from the sheer beauty of her.

Sometimes I go out at night on the balcony, and I look down at the street below, and I think about how easy it would be just to jump, to end this sick, horrible thing that's inside me before I do something to hurt her. But that would hurt her too, and so I'm trapped, lost in this web I've made, unable to move closer, unable to pull away.

I write these thoughts down, sometimes, like I am right now. I've written her love letters, confessions, poems. I've sat for hours in the middle of the night, looking for the perfect words, for some phrase that might make her see how I feel, that might make her see me as something more than just her brother. And I've burned every one of them, broken the ashes, mixed them until they were nothing but black powder, watched them swirl down the drain.

I think more of me has gone down that drain than there is left inside me now. And it doesn't really matter. There's nothing left here but an empty husk. But that's all right, because if she knew what was inside me, she'd hate me. And I couldn't bear that.

So I go on lying, day after day, telling myself that in six more months, I'll be gone, and I won't have to see her every day, won't have to be reminded of what I can never have. And she won't see me, and she'll forget about me.

And then I can die without hurting her.


	2. Alex's Diary 1

_Alex Russo's Diary_

I'm worried about Justin. He's been acting weird – weird even for _him_. Two nights ago, he came into my room in the middle of the night. I was kind of half asleep, just on the verge of drifting off, and I figured he was going to try to play some kind of prank on me, like Max and I do to him sometimes, so I pretended I was still asleep so I could watch what he did.

But he didn't do _anything_. Or at least, nothing that made any sense. He just pulled out my desk chair, sat in it, and watched me. I kept pretending I was asleep, thinking he was waiting to see if I really was or not – and after a little while, I really did fall asleep. When I woke up, he wasn't there any more. I checked all over to see if he'd pranked me, but I couldn't find anything.

So the next night, I got up and peeked in on him. Not the stupid way, coming into his room, like he had – I went to the lair, got one of the crystal balls, and used that to watch him.

What he did then was just plain strange. He spent like, an hour and a half writing something – crappy crystal ball wasn't good enough for me to read it. Then he took it into the bathroom, put it in the sink, burned it, and washed the ashes down the sink!

Yeah – totally crazy. But now that I think about it, he's been acting strange a lot lately. Like, not fighting back when I argue with him, and doing extra chores, and staying late at school, saying he was working on papers and stuff.

I'm thinking he's still not over the whole Juliet thing. That girl he dated after Harper and I tried to get him to let go didn't last – they broke up two weeks later. And writing letters and burning them… yeah, that's not normal at all. He needs someone to talk to him, and I guess that's going to have to be me.

Well, hell. He's not in his room, not in the bathroom, and definitely not in my room. Unless he's using some kind of invisibility spell, which would actually give him a hat trick for weird for the week. Guess I'm going to have to break out the crystal ball again to see where he is.


	3. Hurts

Author's Note: Feeling somewhat better, but still not fully myself, so I'm finding it easier to continue this story than to go back to something more cheerful right now.

* * *

3:07 AM

Justin Russo stood on the Russo family's balcony/deck, looking down at the street below. Even at this hour, there was still traffic in New York City, both cars and people on foot, though far more of the former than the latter.

He leaned both arms on the cold safety barrier and kept looking down. At some point in the twenty minutes he'd been out here, a slow rain had started, but Justin took no notice. It fit his mood.

He lifted one hand, the elbow still resting on the brickwork, brought it up to his face, closed his eyes and supported his head with fingers on cheekbone and forehead. Tonight was bad. He couldn't get Alex's face – that beautiful, angelic face – out of his mind. He thought of her smiling, laughing, making the cute little face she made when she was peeved at him, and every expression was more beautiful than the last.

And they were all painful, tearing up his insides like molten lead. She was always full of life, and part of him longed to touch that life, to touch _her_, to take some spark of it and huddle around it, against the aching cold emptiness that was all he felt inside any more.

Justin was never sure just how he wound up standing on top of the bricks of the safety barrier – whether it was a conscious decision, forgotten afterward, or if he was simply on autopilot, like a sleepwalker, some deeply submerged part of him working to end his pain even as the rest of him wallowed in it.

Nor could he have told you how long he stood there, contemplating the fall ahead of him, dryly analyzing it somewhere in the back of his mind. _Four stories down, onto concrete. Best lethality is at five stories or more. Not ideal, but… it's what I have._

The ghost of a chuckle came out of him at that, and his body swayed drunkenly at the sudden disturbance. _Not ideal, but it's what I have. Yeah. Isn't _that_ my whole damn life._

And then there was another sound, a small, shocked cry from behind him, and Justin turned his head slowly, mechanically, to gaze down at his little sister. Her eyes were wide and bright, filled with a fear that she rarely showed, and her hands were both white-knuckled fists, brought up to her face.

"Justin… what are you doing? Please get down from there." He looked down at her, standing there in her pajamas, feet bare on the concrete. A cold dread went through him, but there were no words in it, no words in him, and he could not answer her.

She took a step forward, then another, moving slowly and gingerly, like a farmer approaching a spooked calf, her teeth worrying at her lower lip as she did. Alex stopped just over arm's length away, looked up at her brother with pleading eyes, her face running with tears.

"Justin – you can't do this. Think about what it would do to Mom. To Dad. To Max. Please. They'd be shattered." He still didn't answer, and Alex felt a heat rise up through her fear. "Stop being so damned _selfish_, Justin. Whatever is going on, we still need you." She paused, shook her head angrily. "Is this what you want? Do you want me crying? I'm crying. Do you want Max to think _this_ is the way to handle things, when he grows up and hits a rough spot? Do you want him dead too? Would _that_ make things any _better_ for you?"

He opened his mouth, shook his head, let out a voice that cracked with emotion. "No. But… it hurts so much, Alex. It hurts so fucking much that I can't even feel it any more. I can't feel anything any more."

"This isn't going to fix anything, Justin. All you're going to do is hurt a lot of other people. Mom. Dad. Max. Harper. Zeke. Me. Please… come down from there and talk to me. Please. At least sit down. You're scaring me really, really badly."

"You know I'd never do anything to hurt you, Alex. I love you," he said, choking the last few words out.

"Yeah?" Her voice became tight, louder. "Really, Justin? Because watching you stand there about to kill yourself is hurting me a whole hell of a lot. Because, you know, if you jump and make yourself a splatter on the sidewalk, do you think that's not going to hurt me? Do you think I could walk past that spot every day, if you did that? Do you think I could stand to _live_ in the place where you killed yourself?" She was crying freely now, looking up at him. "Come down from there. Come down _right_ this _fucking_ second, because if _you_ jump, _I'm_ jumping right after you!"

Justin stood in shock, looking down at his sister, then suddenly realized that he was crying as well, had been for some time. Unable to speak, he simply nodded, turned very slowly and started to lower himself down. The moment Justin's foot touched the flooring, Alex's arms suddenly went around him, pulled him away from the barrier, swinging him around to one of the lounge chairs. She brought them both down onto it, herself on top of him, then looked down at her brother and suddenly began to pound him with one fist, swinging it up and down like a child having a tantrum and crying.

"Don't you fucking _ever_ do that again! Do you have any _idea_ how scared you were making me? Dammit, Justin… how damn _selfish_ can you be? Were you thinking of _anyone_ besides yourself?"

"I'm sorry," he said, wrapping his arms around Alex, holding on tightly for himself as much as for her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Alex."

Her rage expended, she held onto him in return, crying into his t-shirt until it was soaked through, as Justin began to rock her, still repeating over and over, "I'm sorry."


	4. Truth

"Okay, Justin. Drink this and tell me what's going on." Alex handed her brother a glass filled with dark, fizzy liquid as she sat down backward on her desk chair. Justin's fingers automatically wrapped around the glass as she put it into his hand, but there was no real response from him. Instead, he merely sat where Alex had put him, on the edge of her bed, staring down at the floor blankly.

She sighed. "Look - after what you just did, I'm not letting you out of this room until you tell me what's going on. I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight if I'm worrying that you're back out there again."

There was no response for a moment, and Alex opened her mouth, started to look angry, just as Justin raised his other hand and spoke. "Just - just give me a minute, please." He lifted the glass Alex had given him to his mouth, took a long drink, then immediately made a choking face and looked at the glass. "Alex - what _is_ this?"

"Rum and coke. Because honestly, I think you need to loosen up and unwind a little right now." She sighed, reached her hand out and took Justin's free hand, squeezed it. "Look... I know losing Juliet's been really hard on you. But Justin -"

Justin shook his head, said, "This isn't about Juliet," then blinked. _Oh hell. I did not mean to tell her that._

"It's not?" Alex frowned at Justin. "Then what's wrong?"

To keep from having to talk, Justin took another drink, remembering just barely too late what it was he was drinking. He closed his eyes then, both from reaction to the taste and to keep from having to look Alex in the eyes as he said, "Alex, I'm sorry, but I can't tell you."

"Wait..." Alex straightened up, looking at her brother, and Justin opened his eyes again, to see her dark brown orbs staring at him with a look of dawning realization. "Oh, Justin -" she squeezed his hand again, said, "It's okay. I know this has to be scary, but... I love you," she said, and squeezed his hand again, "no matter what. You know that, right?"

_Does she know? Did she guess... no. It can't be._ Justin swallowed, tried to ignore the the warm feeling that seemed to be spreading through him. He lifted the glass again, but this time remembered what was in it before he drank. He looked for a place to set it down, but nowhere was in reach.

Alex got off the chair, came over to Justin and hugged him, drawing her head against his chest, the way their mom used to when they were little and needed comforting. Turning his head to the side, Justin went stock-still, slowly turning red as the side of his face against his sister's breasts started to feel tingly. Starting to rock side-to-side, Alex said, "It's okay that you're gay. You're still my brother."

Justin blinked quickly, frowning in confusion, then pulled away from Alex and blinked at her. "What? I'm not gay!"

"It's okay," Alex said, putting her arms around Justin again and hugging him so they were cheek-to-cheek. "It all makes sense now - dating all those monster girls, all the awkwardness you had with Miranda..."

"Alex, _I'm not gay._ Really. I like girls. I like _a_ girl, but -" Justin brought his hand up to his face then, stopping and trying to think, finding it surprisingly difficult. _Oh hell. I think the alcohol's starting to get to me. How much did I have?_ "How much rum did you put in that?"

Pulling away a little, Alex said, "I poured it fifty-fifty. Isn't that right?"

_Half and half... and that's one of mom's big glasses. _Justin looked at the glass for a moment, trying to estimate. _So I just had... what? Three shots worth? _He tried to remember what he'd read about alcohol amounts and body mass, but it wasn't wanting to come up.

"Anyway," Alex said, breaking Justin's train of thought, "that's not important right now. You are." She moved onto the bed beside Justin, leaning into him, arm still around him. "So, is the girl the problem? Who is it?"

Justin looked away from her again, said, "It doesn't matter. She doesn't love me. Not the way I love her. She's not ever going to. I... I just have to learn to live with that," he finished, not even realizing how miserable-sounding his voice was.

Alex put a hand on his cheek, turned Justin to face her. "Who is it? You can tell me. Maybe I can help."

_Oh, no, no. God, no._ Justin stood up suddenly, then wobbled in place, almost spilling the glass before Alex stood up and helped steady him. "Woah, big brother. I guess I did give you too much. Sorry."

"It's okay," he said, blinking a little. For a moment, he stared at Alex, at his beautiful, wonderful little sister, and felt a sudden urge to hug her tightly, to kiss her... Justin shook his head, trying to clear it, said, "I can't tell you. I need to go to bed. Please."

He started to move toward the door, but Alex moved into his way, put her hands on his chest and pushed, stopping him. "_No._ You're not leaving until we get this figured out." She looked up at him, her expression angry, but her eyes shining as she blinked back tears. "I am _not_ waking up in the morning to find you dead. I'll keep you in here all night if I have to."

Justin put his hand to his face again, closed his eyes. "Alex. I'm not going to tell you. And you can't keep me in your room. So -"

"Okay, enough. If you won't tell me - _Some are cruel, some are kind, now everyone must speak their mind._"

"It's _you_," Justin heard himself saying, and he tried to stop, but between the alcohol and the spell, he couldn't. "It's always been you, Alex. I love you. I want to hold you when you cry and kiss your tears away," he said, his face turning red as he went on. "I want to fall asleep with you and wake up next to you. I want to -"

Alex's eyes grew wide as she listened to Justin, and then she suddenly said, "Oh - oh my God, Justin - give me that," and then grabbed the rum and coke from Justin's hand and drank down the remaining half in one go.


	5. Whatever You Need

"You... you're in love with me?" Alex stared at her older brother, who nodded at the floor, unable to look her in the eyes. There was silence for a few moments, and then Alex spoke again. "And that's why you're trying to kill yourself?"

He nodded again, squeezing his eyes closed as he did, lowering his head in protective reflex as he expected her to start yelling at him, to hit him - to do _something_. But nothing happened, and nothing happened, until Justin opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Alex, and saw the tears streaming down her face.

Seeing that, he stepped toward her, reached for her, but Alex took a step back, away from him, held up her hands between them. "No," she said, and Justin felt a sickening wave of pain and self-hate roll through him.

Justin nodded, swallowed. "I'll go," he said, and started toward the door, but Alex caught him by the arm.

"_No_. You can't... you can't tell me something like that and just leave! And I already told you, I am not letting you kill yourself!" He moved to hug her again, but she still stepped away. "Wait... just... just give me a minute. But don't you dare leave."

Two steps took Alex to her nightstand, from which she picked up a box of tissues and started to wipe her face. Justin watched, opened his mouth, closed it, then tried again. "I'm sorry. I've looked for a spell to change things. I've tried dating other girls. I've tried everything I can think of. I -"

He turned around, facing the wall, and leaned against it with one hand, let his head droop down. "Just don't hate me. Please. I don't think I could -"

Justin's speech was cut off as Alex grabbed his arm, pulled him around, then stepped in and kissed him hard. In shock, Justin didn't react for a good two or three seconds, during which Alex put her arms around him, then pushed her tongue against his lips. Parting his lips, Justin met her tongue with his, wrapped his arms around his little sister and hugged her so hard he almost lifted her off the floor.

The kiss was clumsy, Justin moving too quickly, both of them pressing together so hard it felt like their lips might bruise, but it went on, and on. More than a full minute later, Justin broke the kiss, brought a hand up to Alex's face, smoothed her hair to the side as they stared into each other's eyes. "Do you -" he started, but Alex interrupted.

"Shut up. Don't ask any questions. Don't _talk_," Alex said. "God, Justin..." She shook her head slowly, then went on, "I was all ready to tell you that any girl who didn't want you must be an idiot, and wasn't good enough for you. And then -" She shook her head again, tears starting down her cheeks. "You had to say _that_."

He opened his mouth and Alex clapped her hand over it, held on tightly with her other arm. "Dammit, Justin. You... I _can't_ lose you. I'd die if you killed yourself. So if this is what it takes to keep you from doing that..." She bit her lower lip for a moment, and Justin felt an overwhelming urge to kiss her again, but her hand was still on his mouth. "Then do whatever you need to," she finished in a whisper. "I'm here for you. Whatever it takes."


	6. Don't Speak

"Alex," Justin said, raising his hand to touch her cheek, but she raised a finger to his lips, silencing him.

"Don't talk," she said. "You can do whatever else you want, but don't say anything."

He nodded to that, slowly, looking into his sister's eyes, seeing the trace of fear there - but alongside that fear was a fascination as she looked back into Justin's eyes, saw the softness there in his expression. Justin moved closer, brushing his fingers slowly through Alex's hair, then closer still, hugging her and burying his face in her soft, dark, fragrant hair, inhaling her scent.

She wrapped her arms around him in return, closing her eyes as she felt the warmth of him, the careful, gentle way that he held her. Alex let herself melt into her older brother's arms, smiled a little at the safe, secure feeling that she felt welling up inside, relieved that it was still there, even with what he'd confessed to her.

Justin held onto Alex for a long time, letting himself feel everything - all the complicated, glorious feelings that he'd always had to hold back when they'd hugged before, feeling tingles everywhere they were touching, his body amazingly aware of hers. He felt the way she relaxed against him, enjoyed it even as his mind was racing. _Does she love me too? And why doesn't she want to talk? If she doesn't... I don't want to hurt her. God, I don't ever want that._

He shifted a little, breathed out into her hair, kissed her cheekbone at its apex, beside her eye. He wanted to tell her that he loved her, say it over and over again, but instead, he loosened his grip, slid one hand along Alex's arm to take her by the hand, then led her to the bed, walking backwards.

The fear was back in her eyes again, then, and it stung him to see it there, but he led Alex to the bed anyway, lay down on it, motioned for her to join him. She did, laying on her side, facing him, and Justin stroked her hair again, then kissed her softly, giving Alex little kisses, one after the other, tilting his head slowly as he did so each landed on her lips in a subtly different way.

The first half-dozen were there, on her lips, but then Justin moved upward, kissed a line across Alex's cheek and up to her eye, continued onto her forehead. He stopped there and hugged her tightly, held her like that. For half a minute, neither of them moved - and then Justin took in a sharp breath as Alex moved against him, kissed him on the cheek, down onto his neck. She moved down more, to his chest, placing a kiss every few inches, down the center, circling around, spiraling slowly in until she placed her full lips on his nipple, kissed her brother there and gently sucked.

Justin fought back a moan as he rolled onto his back. Alex broke the suction and moved up, looked down into his eyes and stroked his hair now, smiling at him, then took Justin's hand and moved it to the hem of her pajama shirt, then slowly started to pull it up.

* * *

Quick question for people... should I leave Ashes T-rated, or should I move it up to M? Let me know in a review, or PM me. Thanks!


	7. The First Night

Justin put his hand on Alex's, keeping her from pulling her shirt up, looking into her eyes and shaking his head slightly as he did. She blinked, giving him a confused look as she did, studying his grey-green eyes to try to figure out what he was thinking.

He looked back into Alex's eyes, smiled slightly, then leaned forward and kissed her mouth. She started to kiss back, but he broke it almost immediately, pulled her against himself, then lay down on the bed, going down onto his side. He brought Alex down with him, laying them so they were face-to-face, his nose almost touching hers, still looking in each other's eyes.

With his left hand, Justin stroked Alex's thick black hair, running just the tips of his fingers through it. He opened his mouth, shut it, frowned, then put both hands together, moved them under the side of his head, closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, Alex was smiling back at him. She nodded, and Justin reached past her to start setting her alarm.

As he did, Alex studied her brother's face, watching his expression, letting her own show her worry while he wasn't looking. He moved his hand away, reached up to her lamp, turned it off. Everything seemed pitch black then, before their eyes adjusted, and both Justin and Alex moved close to the other, pressing together in the dark.

Alex held still, expecting more. After a minute, Justin put a hand on her hip, the other on her shoulder, gently pushing on one and pulling on the other. She turned over, since that seemed to be what he wanted, and he nestled into her spoon-fashion, his arms wrapping around her, his face in her hair.

Minutes went by like that, and Alex kept shifting, feeling nervous and dry-mouthed. The hard lump pressed against her bottom certainly showed that Justin would like to go farther, but he made no moves at all. Her own nervousness kept her from staying still, though, and every time she moved against him, she could feel it anew, and wondered what her movements felt like to him. Did it feel like teasing? Did he like it?

She wanted to ask, but she couldn't bring herself to break her own rule of silence, for fear of what she might say, so she stayed as still as she could make herself, putting her own arm over his, holding to him like that as time ticked steadily by, and tried to ignore the the warm, needy feeling that was growing in her.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, but was only fourteen minutes by the clock, she heard a snore come, let out a slow breath as she realized Justin had fallen asleep. Only then did she allow herself to cry slow, silent tears.

At seven, the radio came on, and Justin and Alex both reached for it automatically. Justin was a little faster… and so Alex's hand wound up slapping his rather than the snooze button. She didn't apologize, though, instead simply turning over and looking into Justin's eyes. After a moment, she swallowed. "Did you sleep okay?" she asked then.

Justin nodded, smiling a little, started to stroke his sister's hair again. "Better than I have in months," he admitted. "How about you?"

"Good," was Alex's only answer. She moved forward a little, hugged him tightly for a second, then said, "Okay, well… you'd better get back to your room. Mom and Dad'll be up soon."

For a few moments, Justin just looked at Alex, and then he nodded, moved away from her to slip out from under the cover that one of them - he wasn't sure which - had dragged over them during the night. He stood up gingerly, his head still feeling fuzzy from the rum and coke, then tiptoed around her bed with exaggerated care.

Alex watched him come around to her side, watched as he stopped there, looked down at her for a moment. He took her hand then, smiled down at her and squeezed it, then bent down and kissed her gingerly. "I love -" he started to say, but Alex cut him off.

"I know," she said, putting a hand to Justin's mouth. "You need to get to your room. Mom'll be up any minute." She paused a moment, then said, "We don't talk about this. This didn't happen." At Justin's expression, she paused again, rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean," she said, then pushed him on his shoulder. "Now get back to your room."

Justin blinked, obviously wanting to say something, but Alex shook her head and pointed to the door. He nodded then, very slowly, went to the door, cracked it open and looked out, then slipped out, closing it silently behind him.

* * *

Author's Note: Thanks for all the feedback on whether to go to M or not! Right now, the plan is that it will most likely go to M... but only if and when it fits. Justin loves Alex too much to push her.


	8. Spying

Justin sat in his calculus class, his hand taking notes on auto-pilot while he thought over what had happened the night before. _I should stay away from Alex. I should just lock myself in my room tonight. _He sighed a little, knowing he wouldn't. _I might as well go to her, though. It's Alex. If I _don't_ go, she'll come to me. _

And that was the heart of the thing: he wanted to believe that Alex might possibly be in love with him as well, and just not be willing to say it. She'd never been comfortable with real public displays of affection - she seemed to use them more as a way to indicate _this guy is mine_ than for themselves. So if he went to her, he could keep telling himself that if he didn't, she'd come to him.

Because if she wouldn't, if she didn't love him too... _Then I'm forcing her to do this. Then I'm _hurting_ her._ He closed his eyes for a moment, fingers tightening on his pencil until his knuckles were white. Justin took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, relaxing his hand as he did. _I won't hurt her. I _won't._ We don't go any further than we already have. Not unless she tells me that she loves me like I love her._

He looked up at the board, copied equations down, letting them flow from eyes to hand on their own, his brain barely involved in the process. _I can't let myself cross that line. I can't let _her_ cross it - not just because I want her to._

At lunch, he sat with Zeke and the other alien language league members, chatting away. Harper was there as well, since she'd taken up with Zeke, and where Harper ate lunch, Alex did - but the presence of the group made it easier to act like nothing had happened. And, Justin found, he was feeling enough better that he joked and laughed along with the rest of them, as he hadn't in months.

A few times he caught Alex looking at him. One of those times she was smiling, but she wasn't sure if she was smiling at him, or at something Harper was saying. Either way, though, her smile was like a ray of sunlight on a cloudy day, and he caught her eye for a moment, smiled back.

She looked away, but the smile didn't drop. Justin's heart leapt in hope, but his brain came crashing right down on it. _She's happy that you don't look like you're thinking about suicide. She doesn't love you like that. And why would she? What do you have to offer her? She doesn't like you. She's said it plenty of times before. She doesn't' want you to kill yourself, sure, but that's just because you're her brother. Family obligation. That's all you are to her - an obligation._

The thought was sickening in the most literal of fashions, and Justin felt as if his lunch was turning to lead in his stomach. "Excuse me," he found himself saying. "I just remembered something I need to look at in the library." Zeke started to get up as well, but Justin held out a hand. "Just stay here, man. I'll see you in Chem anyway."

His friend nodded to that and turned back to Harper. Justin avoided looking at Alex as he got up, took his tray to the trashcan, dumped off the remnants of his meal and pushed the tray into the stack. Part of him desperately wanted to look back, to look at Alex, but he set his shoulders and marched like Orpheus out of the cafeteria.

Alex, being Alex, didn't bother with excuses or explanations. She simply gave Harper an "I'll see you later," and headed after Justin, leaving her tray behind for someone else to worry about cleaning up. Harper gave her a look, but Alex was used to that, and ignored that as she headed out into the hallway and looked to see which way Justin had gone - she definitely wasn't trusting that he was going to the library just because he said he was.

She was relieved to find that he actually was heading in that direction. A tightness in her chest that she hadn't known was there eased, and she slowed a little, watching him as he walked.

He didn't move like himself. Justin didn't walk with his head down, looking at the floor about ten feet in front of him. He didn't slouch like that, or keep his hands in his pockets. _He's walking like he's trying out for a role as an emo kid_, she thought, the thought both amusing and stinging at the same time. _When did he get this bad? And how did it take me so long to notice?_

Justin turned at the library doors, pulled the left-hand door open, and went in. A fleeting thought for Justin's privacy passed through Alex's mind, but it didn't stand the ghost of a chance as her curiosity moved in like a commando sneaking up on a half-sleeping sentry. She didn't, however, go in through the main door where Justin had, instead circling to a side hallway and using the door marked STAFF ONLY to slip into the librarian's office, knowing Miss (_Or was it Mrs?_ Alex never could remember) Merritt had still been in the lunchroom when she left.

The librarian's office had a one-way mirror for a window (_all the better to spy on the potential book-thieves who called themselves 'students'_) and Alex moved to it and watched Justin from there.

He'd sat down at one of the several tables, and seemed to be writing something - but he didn't have any books open around him. _So he _was_ lying about needing to do research here. I knew it._ She frowned, watching him, and wondered, _But what's he up to?_

Justin stayed there, writing, until the bell rang. He looked startled at that, looked down at what he'd written, frowned, then shook his head. Getting up, he crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it in the trash as he went out. Even as the door was swinging shut, Alex hustled out of the librarian's office, grabbed the paper he'd thrown away (_and thank God for neat-freak librarians. If there'd been other papers in the trash, that would've been harder_), and took it with her as she started to her own class.


	9. Oaths

If Alex had gone to class, she would have had to wait until a good time to uncrumple Justin's note, smooth it out, and then try to read it while hoping that no one took enough of an interest to try to read over her shoulder. So she didn't go to class.

_It's just American History anyway. It's not like we're going to cover anything new and exciting. _She hid out in the girl's bathroom, where she quickly took out the paper, smoothed it - and then looked at it blankly. Because that was what it was - blank.

After a moment, she frowned. _I _know_ Justin wrote something on this. I watched him do it for ten freaking minutes. So that means..._ She moved over to the door, pushed the trash can in front of it for extra privacy, then went back to the semi-countertop where the sinks were, smoothed down the paper again, then took out her wand.

"_Justin's hiding something from me, so make visible the things he wrote... be._" Alex grimaced at the forced rhyme, but it seemed to be good enough. Words started to appear on the paper as if writing themselves, and Alex smiled, then frowned again as she started to read.

_I will not let Alex hurt herself for me._

_I will not let Alex hurt herself for me._

_I will not let Alex hurt herself for me._

It continued on down the page, going down in two neat columns, at least sixty times in all. _And what is this? The ink's weird... _Hoping she wasn't right, Alex put her finger to the words, wiped it across, raised it and licked, then felt a sick sensation go through her as the taste confirmed it. Justin had written that in _blood_.

_Okay. Contain the urge to freak. Though on a scale of freak-worthiness, I think this rates about a 9.5. _He hadn't been dipping his pen in his wrist, so magic was obviously involved. And Justin wasn't the type for stupidly meaningless grandiose gestures.

_Or he wasn't. Then again, what the hell else would you call writing letters, then burning them and washing the ashes down the sink? Still, though... he wasn't writing those in blood. Was he?_ She waved her wand over the paper, making the words disappear again, then stuck it into the pocket of her backpack. _Okay. I'm going to assume this wasn't just some stupid gesture, and it actually had a purpose. That means I need to find out what the purpose is._

Alex sighed a little and rolled her eyes as she realized that was going to mean actually _studying_ the books in the Lair. _Unless..._

* * *

"Dad?"

"Yes, honey?" Jerry didn't look away from his football game as he answered Alex, nor as she sat down on the couch beside him. It'd taken until after nine o'clock to get an opportunity to talk to him with both Justin (who she _obviously_ couldn't ask about it around) and Mom (who just hated talk about magic in general) around. Max was still here, but that didn't really matter for this.

"I lost my book for the correspondence course I'm taking, and I've got some homework I need to send in, so I was wondering... can you tell me about uses of blood in magic?"

_That _got Jerry's attention. He looked away from the TV and toward his daughter, giving her a curious look. "Blood? What kind of magic are you studying?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "If I knew, I wouldn't have to ask you about it. It was something about writing things in your own blood. Like, promises?"

"Oh, oaths." Jerry nodded to that. "They're like the wizard equivalent of a bonded contract. You write an oath in your blood, with a binding spell placed on it."

"What happens if you break the oath?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

Jerry looked back to the TV. "Just a second - go, go, go, _go!_ Yes!" He pumped his fist as the Giants scored, then continued. "It depends on the spell that's used. You might break out in hives, or be compelled to tell someone. For really serious contracts, it could even be death. That kind of thing is sometimes used as a parole condition for a criminal, in the wizard world."

_Death? Oh, hell no. He'd _better _not have._ "How would you end something like that?"

"Fulfill the oath - if it has an end condition - or get the person who put it on you to release it. Or the Wizard's Council can unbind oaths, in their role as the Wizard Court." As a commercial came on, Jerry smiled and got up, nodded down to Alex. "I'm glad to see you actually taking an interest in your studies, Alex. I'm going to get some chips - you want any?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Oh... is there any way to find out the penalty on an oath? I mean, if it's not spelled out in the oath itself?"

"It'd have to be either written in the oath, or pronounced as part of the spell," Jerry replied as he opened a cabinet and got down a bowl. "The oath-taker has to know the penalty, or the spell won't work."

_Uh-huh. Well, it wasn't written down, so Justin must have said it. _"I should go write this down while it's still fresh. Thanks, Dad."

"Any time," he said with a nod as he headed to the kitchen.

_Okay, so - next step, I go steal Justin's wand and find out what exactly he said. Well, _that_ part I know how to do,_ she thoughts with a small smile.


	10. Burnt Letter 2

_I don't know what I'm doing now. I know I'm trying to protect Alex, but... I don't know if she really needs it. I don't know if I'm doing it the right way. I don't know if I've even done the spell right, and the only way to really find out would be to let her hurt herself for me... and aside from the hurting herself part of that, if it does work, I'd have to suffer the consequences then._

_Part of me thinks it was simpler just pining away for her and dying inside a little at a time. At least then it was only me who could get hurt by it. Another part of me wants to take her at her word - 'do whatever you need to'._

_But then, what I need and what I want aren't the same thing. I can live with this. I can._

_And because I love her, I must._

* * *

Alex came into the room, and Justin quickly pulled his math book on top of what he'd been writing, flipping it open as he did.

"Hey," she said, flopping herself onto his bed. "What're you doing?"

"Homework," Justin lied, trying not to look at the way his beautiful little sister was sprawled on his bed, not to think about crawling onto it and joining her there. _Don't think about kissing her. Don't think about how her hair smells. Don't - _

He stopped and sighed, turned to look at Alex. She'd pulled one of his pillows down under her arm, was leaning on it, hanging her head so it was almost upside-down, looking at him like that.

For her part, Alex was scanning his room with her peripheral vision, trying to figure out where Justin's wand was. She watched silently as he looked at her, let herself smile a little as his eyes roved over her body, taking in the sleep cami and pajama shorts. She stretched a little, arching her back as she did, letting the motion emphasize her breasts.

Justin felt his eyes drawn there, willfully pulled them to her face. "What do you want, Alex?"

"I'm worried about you," she said truthfully. "Look... what I said to you last night, about doing whatever you need to to me..."

She hesitated, and Justin felt his heart in his throat, his pulse suddenly picking up. "Yes?"

"I want you to know that I mean it. Justin," she said, reaching out and taking his hand. Part of him wanted to pull that hand away, but he couldn't do it, and instead, he found himself closing his eyes, focusing on those few inches of skin touching. "I know you're worried about hurting me. But nothing you could do to me would hurt me as much as losing you would. So please..." She pulled his hand forward, using both of hers now, pulling so that his desk chair rolled closer to the bed. "... do whatever it takes to make you feel good," she finished, then kissed his knuckles - and then moved his hand down to her breasts, placing it against them, pushing it flat.

Justin shivered, then opened his eyes, and slowly but firmly pulled his hand away.

"Alex - you don't know what you're saying. I -"

Alex let out a breath, rolled her eyes, and sat up on the bed. "I know what I'm saying, Justin. I found Mom and Dad's copy of _The Joy of Sex_ when I was eleven. I've read the whole damn thing. Do you want me to get clinical? If you want to put your pe -"

"No!" Justin put his fingers in his ears, glaring at Alex, and she couldn't help but grin. _This _was more like what she was used to with him. She shut her mouth, put on a contrite expression, and after a second, Justin lowered his hands.

So of course, Alex continued. "penis in my -" He brought his fingers back up and glared again, and she grinned wider, then stood up in front of him. "Well," she said then, "maybe I should show you..." She put a hand on the waistband of her pajama shorts, started to pull them down, and Justin immediately kicked his chair into a spin, turning away from her.

Which was, of course, exactly what Alex expected. With him turned around, she quickly looked around, then spotted his wand on the desk. She pushed and turned his chair around, finding that his eyes were now tightly shut - also as she'd expected. She reached and moved his wand, putting it on the edge of the desk, moving it from his desk to the foot of his bed, then putting her hands on Justin's wrists and pulling them so his fingers came out.

"Okay, you've made your point. You're going to keep acting like an idiot from some misguided sense of honor. Well... I'm not going to let you do that so much that you kill yourself." She paused, then said, "I'm going to come in here to sleep with you tonight. You're not going to lock your door, or sleep out on the couch, or anything else like that, because if I have to break down your door, or curl up against you on the couch where anyone could see us, I will. What you do or don't do with me while I'm in your bed with you is up to you, but I am _not_ leaving you alone to go trying to jump off the balcony, or slit your wrists, or anything like that. Do you understand me?"

Justin looked up at his little sister, wondering at the anger that was in her tone. _Does that mean she really loves me, that she's mad at me for trying to push me away? Or is she just worried?_

He nodded slowly for his response, but Alex shook her head. "Not good enough. Say the words, Justin."

"I understand," he said, and Alex gave him the smile she always did when she got her way. "Good." She leaned down then and kissed him on the cheek, then stood back up, smiling a little more at the subtle blush that rose up on Justin's face. "And now, say what I didn't let you last night. I won't stop you this time."

"I love you," Justin let out quickly, and Alex smiled, took his hand and squeezed it.

"I'll be here as soon as everyone's in bed," she said, then tilted her head toward the desk. "Now, finish your homework."

Justin turned back to his desk, and Alex smiled and walked out of his room - picking up his wand from where she'd put it as she did.


	11. Notes Found on a Wand

Back in her room, Alex sat down with Justin's wand, then leaned back, putting her feet up on her bed. _Now, let's see…._ She held his wand level, about two feet from her face, then brought up the menu and scrolled sideways through it. _There should be a 'recent spells' list on here somewhere. Ah, there we go. _Alex tapped the icon, then frowned as it came up with an empty list.

_Damn. He cleared it. Well, let's see what other snooping I can do… oh, hey, this thing has wizweb access. _She felt a moment's tinge of jealousy - Dad wouldn't let _her_ get one of the high-end wands like this. _Did he clear his search history?_ Alex smiled as she discovered that he hadn't.

_And hey, what do we have here? Oath spell examples. Uh-huh. _She followed the links that Justin had clicked to the sample spells listed on Wizipedia. Quickly, she skimmed through them. _Okay, too many. And I can't tell which ones he might have been interested in. Although…._

Alex brought the menu back up, flicked through it to the notepad, opened it up. _Here we go. Thank you for being so organized, Justin. _After three minutes of looking through notes for his independent study, grocery lists, paper outlines, notes about random spells that had nothing to do with anything Alex cared about, and so forth, though, she was no longer so happy that Justin was organized.

_How many notes can one person take? I'm surprised he doesn't have notes here on what to take notes about._ _Wait, what's this? _Alex sat up straighter and frowned as she read:

_Suicide Methods: Pros and Cons_

Alex's heart sank as she read through Justin's notes, filled with snippets such as "-painful +quick." _But he's not going to kill himself. He promised. _Frowning, she chewed on her lip, then looked at the clock. _Only eleven. Mom and Dad might not be asleep yet. _She felt an urge to go to Justin's room anyway, stopped and told herself she was being silly. _Okay, stop reading this one. _

She took a deep breath, closed that note, scrolled down the list, skimming titles until she spotted one titled "Alex". A little surprised, she opened it and started to read.

_You're not like an angel is supposed to be_

_Your hair isn't gold_

_Your eyes aren't blue_

_Your kindness is hidden_

_But yet I find_

_You are the closest to heaven_

_That I can imagine._

There was a break, and below it was written_: I keep trying to write you a poem, but I have to face it: I'm a lousy poet. So let me lay out my feelings like this. When I'm around you, everything seems brighter. Your laugh is like music - I could listen to it all day, even when it's me you're laughing at. I touch you whenever I can, even though I know I shouldn't. _

There was another break there, and then it picked up again. _Damn. I'm not even good at this - at putting feelings into words. I love you. I want to touch you, to kiss you, to hold you against me and not ever have to let go._

_I wish I knew if you felt the same way. Sometimes I think you do, but other times I think I'm just fooling myself. I_

It stopped there again, continued a few lines down. _I, Justin Russo, give my oath and bond that I shall not allow my sister, Alex Russo, to give herself to me sexually or attempt to do so, unless and until I know that she loves me as well. If she does, then I will leave to protect her from me._

Alex stared at that for a moment, then swallowed. _What I did earlier… was that enough to kick his oath in? _She looked at the clock again, but it was only 11:03, and she swallowed, then got up off her chair. _Okay, screw it. I need to make sure he's there. I need to make sure he's okay._

She moved to her door, opened it, closed it silently behind her as she stepped across the hallway and moved the few feet down to Justin's door. Opening it, she slipped inside, closed the door behind her, and frowned at the darkness. _Something's wrong…. it's dark. _Alex reached and flipped his light switch, then sighed as it confirmed what she'd already guessed from the absence of Justin's night-light: he was gone.

Flicking out the light, she quickly padded down the stairs in her bare feet, then pulled back the curtains to the deck. Empty. Steeling herself, Alex slid the glass door open and half-ran to the safety barrier, leaned over it to look down. _Oh, thank God. He didn't go jump._

Once back inside, Alex used a spell to dress herself, then took the stairs the rest of the way down, into the sub station. She turned on the lights to check the restaurant, then the kitchen, then took the door to the lair, but still didn't find Justin. Grabbing the crystal ball, she sat down for a moment. "_My brother's being a moron, show me where he's go-on._"

It showed her Max, asleep in bed, and Alex closed her eyes for a moment with a growl of frustration. "_Stupid ball, I'm looking for Justin, show me him, or you I'm bustin'._" This time the ball obliged, and she saw him walking down the street, not far away - she recognized the shops around him. He looked worried, and was looking down as he walked, hands stuck stiffly in his pockets, a backpack on him. _He brings a backpack, but misses his wand_, she thought, rolling her eyes. _Well. Time to go yell at my idiot._


	12. Confessions

Justin trudged slowly along the walkway, not really bothering to look at anything around him. Part of him knew that he was endangering himself, that even though theirs was a good neighborhood, muggings and assaults still happened - but he couldn't bring himself to care.

_I shouldn't be doing this. But I don't know what else to do. I'm not a saint. If Alex keeps throwing herself at me, I will give in, sooner or later. _He swallowed at the mixture of love, longing, and pain that went through him as he thought of her, closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, then opened them, lifting his head as he did, to check just where he was now.

"Ah!" Justin was very surprised to find Alex standing right in front of him, hands on her hips, glaring at him from no more than two feet away - so surprised that he took an involuntary jump backward, overbalanced, windmilled his arms for a moment as he tried to get his balance back, then fell ungracefully on his back.

Alex looked heavenward, sighed, then moved by her brother and squatted down, looking at him. "I'm not going to help you up," she said. "Falling down like that serves you right for leaving."

Justin struggled to sit up with the heavy backpack, managed it after a moment, then looked at Alex. "What are you doing out like this?" he asked, looking around them as he did.

"What am I doing? What am _I_ doing?" Alex stared at her brother in disbelief, then put a hand on his shoulder and pushed angrily. "I'm coming and getting _you_, idiot! I am _not_ letting you leave me!"

Justin started to get up, saying, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you -"

"You can't _let_ me?" Alex moved forward and pushed her brother back to the ground, sat down on his legs to keep him from getting up. "You don't _let_ me do anything! I do what I _want _to, and nobody stops me - you of all people should know that by now!"

Closing his eyes, Justin tried again. "Alex, please. I know you want to help me, but -"

"But what?" She moved forward, getting into Justin's face. "But you know what's good for me better than I do? You think I'm too dumb to make my own decisions?" She raised a fist and hit him in the shoulder, her face angry even as tears started to flow. "Dammit, Justin, _you're_ the one who's acting like you need someone taking care of you. So I'm going to do it. And the first thing you are going to do is take that oath spell off of yourself."

Justin opened his mouth, but before he could even speak, Alex was shaking her head. "No. Don't even try to deny it. I found the paper." She held up Justin's wand as she continued. "And I read your notes here, so I know what you did. But you forgot one thing."

Alex paused in her near-rant, and Justin frowned for a moment, then asked warily, "What?"

"Do you remember what you promised me on the island, right before the spell took you away? Do you remember what you said to me, Justin?"

He closed his eyes, then nodded slowly. "'I don't know who you are,'" he quoted from memory, "'but I will never leave you.'"

"That's right. You _promised _to never leave me. And now you go and cast a spell that's going to _make_ you leave me? You are taking that spell right off, right now!"

She pushed Justin's wand at him, but he shook his head slowly. "Alex - please don't do this. I don't want to hurt you. I - ow!" Alex slapped him hard enough to sting, then suddenly pushed Justin down, pinned him on top of his backpack and kissed him. The kiss broke almost immediately, as Justin struggled under her, and then Alex sat up again, pulled him back up to sitting as well.

"_You are not hurting me._ I want this. I want you to be happy. I want you to be safe, and happy, and I want you _with me_. Do you think I went to all the trouble of making a duplicate of you and sending it off to college so you wouldn't have to leave to have you go running away because you _finally_ figure out that you're in love with me?" Alex grabbed Justin's coat and shook him angrily, her face screwed up in anger and pain as she went on. "Do you think I spend my days trying to find ways to get you to pay attention to me so you'll _leave_? You're supposed to be the smart one here, Justin. _Think_."

Alex glared at him, and Justin looked at her in silence for several seconds, then closed his eyes, licked his lips, and swallowed. "Alex," he said then, "just answer one question for me." His voice cracking, Justin asked, "Do you love me?"

She stared back at him, opened her mouth, closed it again, then closed her eyes tightly. "I don't know," she said then, shaking a little as her voice came out as almost a sob. "I mean - I know I didn't love Riley. I thought I loved Dean. I really thought I was in love with Mason. But I don't even know if I know what love _is_ any more."

Justin felt his heart melt as he listened, and he leaned forward and put his arms around his little sister, then pulled her against himself, there on the cold pavement of the walkway, as she went on. "I know I don't want you ever to leave. When I dream about... about making love, it's your face in the dreams. When I'm sad, you're the one I want to hold me. And when I'm mad at you, half the time I don't know if I want to hit you, or pin you down and kiss you."

Alex opened her eyes, and they were red and puffy as she looked at Justin. "Is that love? If it is, I'm in love with you. And if it's not - then I guess I'm just crazy."

Slowly, Justin raised his hand to his sister's hair, then ran his fingers through it. "If you're crazy, then I'm crazy, because that's just how I feel about you." He leaned forward, and Alex came to meet him halfway, and the two of them gently touched their lips together, shifted and kissed again, mouths fitting to each other as if made for it. Justin tried to move forward more, to put his arms around Alex, and was forcibly reminded of his backpack.

He pulled back a little, and Alex frowned at him. "Why did you stop? Is something -"

Justin shook his head and smiled. "Nothing's wrong - except for the fact that we're sitting out on the sidewalk in the middle of the night." He paused, put his hand on Alex's arm, trailed his fingers down across it. "Let's go back home."


	13. Together

A few minutes later, they were in Justin's bedroom, having turned off the lights downstairs on their way up. Justin unslung his backpack and set it on the floor, then turned back to Alex and smiled. She, however, shook her head and pointed to the backpack.

"We're unpacking that before we do anything else. I'll feel a lot better knowing you aren't packed and ready to go."

"I'm sorry about that," Justin said. "I'm not going to leave now -"

"I'll still feel better with it unpacked," Alex replied, moving past him as she did to pick it up, set it on his bed, and unzip it. Justin moved to join her, and they spent a couple of minutes unpacking the clothes, books, and other things that he'd been taking with him.

"Where were you going to go anyway? Never mind." She held up a hand and shook her head. "It doesn't matter. You're not going there, wherever it was." Turning to face Justin, she looked up into her brother's eyes. "You're not leaving me. Ever. Right?"

His expression serious, Justin raised a hand to touch her cheek. "Yes." A smile came onto his face. "I love you... and you love me too. I'm not going to go anywhere."

"Good. _And_ you're going to drop these stupid ideas about protecting me from you?"

That got a sigh from Justin. "I'll try. But being protective is part of how I love you."

"I know." Alex rolled her eyes, but smiled as she did, then moved closer to Justin, put her arms up and clasped her hands behind his neck. "It's cute, really. I'll let you do it, a little. But not _too _much."

"Good." Justin brushed his little sister's cheek with his thumb, then put hands on her waist. "So... bedtime?"

"Yes. You get undressed," she said, her eyes twinkling as she grinned mischievously, "and I'm going to watch you do that." Raising a hand to waggle a finger in front of Justin's nose, Alex added, "And no trying to cover up. You are mine, and I want a look at what I'm getting."

Justin looked at Alex for a moment, nodded slowly, then stepped away from her, turned, and walked to the dirty clothes hamper in the corner of his room. With his back to Alex, he took off his shirt, and Alex sat down on his desk chair as he did, keeping her eyes on him, admiring the play of his shoulder and back muscles under his skin.

The shirt went into the hamper, and Justin took off his shoes next, stepping on the back of each with the other foot to pull them off without bending down. Stooping, he took off his socks, dropped them into the hamper, then picked up the shoes and took them to his closet, placed them onto the shoe rack on the back of its door.

He started to take off his pants then, but Alex cleared her throat and he stopped, turned his head to look at her. "Turn around," she said. "I want you facing me."

Coloring a little, Justin obeyed. His chest was well-muscled, and the legs revealed as he took off his pants were as well, with clean lines and dark hair. He stopped and looked at her then, and Alex nodded, then stood up and walked to him, looked him up and down. "Nice," she said. "It's easy to forget what a dork you are, looking at you like this. Now... you stand still and keep your eyes forward."

Justin did that, frowning a little, unsure what Alex was going to do. She looked at him for a moment, smirking slightly, then walked around him, stood behind him. He heard cloth move on skin, then felt something draped onto his shoulder. Glancing down, he saw that it was Alex's blouse, and Justin blushed again, immediately returning his eyes to staring at the wall in front of him.

It didn't help, though, as he felt her hand touch his back, felt and imagined her movement as she pulled off shoes, then socks, switching hands as she did, but continuing to use him as support. She tossed them away as she removed them, over in front of Justin. A few moments later, she dropped her pants onto his shoulder, on top of her blouse, and Justin blushed deeper when her bra followed it.

A light flashed to Justin's right, and he glanced that way involuntarily, felt a little relief as he saw Alex's pajamas appear there. Her hand reached over and grabbed the top, and Justin closed his eyes, listened as she pulled on the top, followed by the shorts a moment later.

"Okay, you can turn around now," Alex said, and Justin started to, then froze at her sudden, "Wait! I need to change something here." He could see the movement of her wand out of the corner of his eye. "Okay, _now_ look."

Justin finished turning and looked over his sister. She wore a dark blue t-shirt style top, with matching shorts. The shorts had a pink heart on the left hip - and the top had on it, in large pink block letters, "PROPERTY OF JUSTIN RUSSO."

With a very self-pleased smirk, Alex asked, "Do you like it?"

"I love it. I love you," Justin said, stepping toward Alex, but she stepped away from him.

"Wait. You need some adjustment to match." She waved her wand, and a t-shirt appeared on him, thin, black, and very tight on him, with "PROPERTY OF ALEX RUSSO" in white.

"Cute," Justin said with a smile as he read it. "But -"

"We'll change them back in the morning, yes." Alex rolled her eyes. "Can't give Mom a heart attack with the laundry." She moved past Justin, deliberately brushing against him as she did, then set his wand back on his desk, moved and turned off the lights.

Back in its place now, the night light came on, and by its light, Justin climbed into bed, followed closely by Alex. She turned her back to him, spooning against him, said, "Hold me." A moment later, she gave a small, contented sigh as he slid one arm under her neck, put the other around her waist. "That's nice. But you should hold me the way you really want to."

Justin didn't move in response to that, so Alex sighed, took his hand from her belly, moved it to her breast. She felt his body stiffen, rolled her eyes in the dark. "You're holding me like this tonight. I'm not ready to do more than that, but..." She paused, shrugged, then continued. "I want you to feel me. And I want you to kiss me."


	14. The Second Night

Author's Note: This story is now moving up to an M rating. Don't worry, it won't all be sex from here - I still have angst up my sleeve.

* * *

Justin paused, taking a deep breath, and Alex rolled her eyes. "Okay, enough with the over-protective thing. It's getting annoying. Do I have to pin you down and _make_ you touch me?"

For a response, Justin curved his hand where Alex had placed it, cupping her breast, then stroked it. As he did, he shifted down a little in the bed and kissed her on the neck. His first kiss wound up with a lock of hair in the way, and he had to use his chin to brush her hair aside, as his other arm was under Alex. Then, however, he was able to kiss her neck properly, sucking on it just barely as he did.

He kissed a line up to her ear, then gently licked along the edge of her earlobe, breathing out as he did. Alex squirmed a little, pressing herself back against him. Justin had started to knead her breast, feeling the shape and size of it, and Alex rocked her hips a little.

She could feel that he was hard, and an odd sort of proud feeling rose up in her, that she could make him like that. The tease in her came out, and she moved her hips more, whispering, "Oh, I can feel you, Justin. I'll bet you'd like to be in me, wouldn't you? I'm not going to let you right now… but I want you to want it. Do you want it?"

"Yes," he breathed back, and moved his hand from his sister's breast, down across her belly, between her legs. He rubbed with his whole hand there, through her shorts and panties, and Alex rocked herself against him, letting out a little moan.

Justin pulled the neckline of Alex's t-shirt to the side and kissed onto the now-exposed skin of her shoulder, continuing to rub her below, starting to suck her skin harder as he grew bolder, was rewarded as she said, "Yes - just like that. Oh, that feels good…." He was starting to rock his own hips as well, breathing hard now as waves of frustrated tension went through him, causing him to moan as well now.

"Alex - I'm getting really horny. If we keep this up, I'm going to need to do something…."

"It's okay," she said back to him. "I don't want to go all the way yet, but we can take care of you." She reached down and took Justin's wrist, lifted his hand from where he was rubbing. "Use that for yourself. I've got me," she said, but Justin shook his head and resisted her pull.

"No. You first, then me. I want to be the one touching you." He paused, moved his mouth back to Alex's neck, kissed it, then nipped very, very lightly. "Like your shirt says," he said then, "you're mine. My hand's going to be the one to make you come, Alex."

Alex moaned again at that, suddenly felt much more squirmy than she had a moment before. She bit her lip for a moment, then whispered, "Put your hand in my panties."

A little startled by the request, Justin didn't moved immediately, and Alex added a breathy, insistent "_Please_," that was as much moan as speech. With that prompting, Justin quickly moved his hand, pushing down inside his sister's panties. She was wet there, and he let out a little 'oh' of surprise and pleasure at the confirmation of her physical desire for him.

Part of him wanted to be in her, to thrust in and out of her body and feel the pleasure of it, to ride her hard and make her call out his name as he did. At the same moment, though, he felt an overwhelming protectiveness toward Alex, and he wrapped his other arm around her, holding her close against him as he stroked her, covering her neck and the back of her head with quick, needy kisses.

She moaned against him, and he slid a finger into her folds, sliding the length between, along rather than into, moved it there. "No," she said then, "don't put it in…."

"It's okay," Justin breathed, his voice calm, reassuring. "I'm just playing with you there. I'm not going to stick it in." He moved his hand in a circle again, his finger still there, and Alex couldn't speak then, could only moan and nod for a moment. Justin felt the way she moved against him, and smiled as he realized she was coming for him.

"Okay," she finally got out. "You can take care of you now," she said, and Justin pulled his hand out of her shorts and moved his hips back a little, giving himself room to work. This was more familiar to him, and he quickly pulled down his underwear and began to work on himself, moving his other hand to knead Alex's breast again.

She smiled, then turned over and kissed him, dislodging his hand, opening her mouth to accept his tongue. Alex reached one hand down to stroke Justin's thighs, gliding gentle touches across the skin, bringing each stroke close to where he was stroking, but ending just a little short each time. Suddenly curious, she broke off their kiss and looked down, watched as his hand moved back and forth.

"Wow, you're really red there right now… does that hurt?"

"No - it gets like that… when I do this…." Justin had to make an effort to get the words out, and Alex looked back at his face, smiled at the strained expression on his face, the way his eyes were tightly shut now. She pulled herself further up on the bed, then pulled her shirt up, pushed her breast into Justin's face, and he immediately took her nipple, not questioning it, began to suck on it.

A shiver ran through Alex at that, and she closed her eyes as well for a moment, then willed herself to open them again, wanting to see Justin. She looked down at his face, smiled at his expression, now almost peaceful as he sucked on her nipple. Then she felt something wet hit her knee, then again, and Justin sucked harder for a moment, almost hard enough to hurt, then let go.

"Oh… oh Alex…." He pulled her down and kissed her roughly, eagerly, putting his hands on each side of her head as he did. Alex returned the kiss, pulling Justin against herself, not worrying about any possible mess. After a moment, the kiss became more gentle, as they both started to relax.

"I love you," Justin said, pulling his underwear up as he did. He kissed Alex's cheek, then her shoulder, moved down the left side of her body, kissing every few inches, smiling up at her between kisses. She reached down and ran her fingers through his hair, smiling back, whispered, "I love you too," just loudly enough for Justin to hear.

When he reached her toes, he went back up, switching to her right side as he did, ending at her mouth. They kissed for several seconds, keeping it a surface kiss, then broke it and looked into each other's eyes, both smiling contentedly. "I love you," Justin said again.

Alex blinked, a single tear running away from the corner of her eye, then smiled and said, "I know."

Justin quirked a smile on one side, said, "You love me too."

"I know," Alex said again, then, "Are you going to keep telling me things I already know, or are we going to go to sleep?"

Still smiling, Justin shook his head. "You know, you're impossible."

"Yes." Alex raised her arms and put them around Justin's shoulders and neck. "I am. But you love me anyway."

Justin lowered his head and rubbed noses with Alex quickly, then said, "Yeah, I do. I wouldn't change you a bit." He paused, tilted his head, then said, "Okay, I'd make you be a little nicer to me. But even if you don't change, I'll still love you."

"Good. Because I'm not going to. Now… sleep?"

"Cuddling, then sleep."

"Okay, if you insist," Alex said, rolling her eyes, but still smiling. She let go of Justin, pulled her shirt back down, and then the two of them moved together, Alex turning her back to Justin as he spooned against her. He reached down to pull up the covers, and Alex reached to turn off the light.

After a few moments, Justin kissed his sister on the back of her head. "Good night." He closed his eyes then, and Alex smiled, waited for him to fall asleep.


	15. A Matter of Conscience

Once she was sure Justin was asleep, Alex decided to wait another fifteen minutes, trying not to fall asleep herself as she did. Her brother's arms were warm and comfortable around her, and she found her eyes drifting closed twice. The second time, she went ahead and moved Justin's arm from her, then slipped out of the bed, even though it had only been eight minutes, worried that if she didn't, she'd fall asleep herself.

Justin kept sleeping as she moved, and Alex smiled at that. She'd been sure he would, knowing from past experience in pranking him how solidly he usually slept. _Wonder what it would take to wake him up_, she thought, her smile growing a little as she thought about things she could do to try, but then she gave her head a little shake.

_Focus, Alex. Teasing Justin's fun, but you have a plan, remember? Okay, so - first things first, if he runs away again, I need to be able to find him. So..._ Walking on the balls of her feet, Alex moved to Justin's desk, picked up Justin's wand, brought up the menu and flipped through it to the wizapp store. _Tracking, tracking... ah, here we are. _She scrolled through the list, drawing her legs up to sit cross-legged as she did, looking at the ones that seemed interesting. Selecting one, she paid for it (from Justin's money, of course), then got her own wand out, linked the two up, and copied the app over. _Don't let me buy a wand with wizweb access. Well, I _am_ smart enough to work around that._

The setup was quick - she pointed her wand at Justin, said his name, and it was done. Then she tried it out quickly, and once she was satisfied, deleted the app from Justin's wand and put it back on his desk.

_Okay, part one down. Now, let's see what we can do about keeping him from running away in the first place. _She tapped her wand against her hand and bit her lip, trying to recall the spell Max had used that time... _oh, yeah. Here we go._ Clearing her throat, Alex intoned, "_Justin's inner thoughts of right and wrong, come out come out where you belong._"

She crossed her arms as the spell took effect, looking down at where she figured Justin's conscience's eye level would be, based on Max's... and found herself looking at a very muscular chest under a t-shirt. She looked up, and up, and found herself being looked at by a thickly built, muscular man whose head bore the stubbly look of a buzz cut. (Author's note: The part of Justin's conscience is played by Vin Diesel.)

"You wanted me here, you got me here," he said in a no-nonsense tone. "What do you want?"

Alex raised a finger to her mouth for quiet, frowning and tilting her head at the sleeping Justin as she did. The conscience turned his head to look, then looked back to Alex, nodded, and repeated more quietly, "What do you want?"

For an answer, she gestured for him to come along, opened the door, slipped out, then closed it behind the two of them. She led him down the stairs, taking them all the way to the basement before speaking. "Okay, so, you're Justin's conscience," she said, folding her arms and turning to look at him. "I want you to quit bothering Justin about doing things with me."

"Doing things," he said in a dry, slightly mocking tone, then chuckled lightly and shook his head. "Say what you mean. You want him to have sex with you."

"Well... not yet. But I want him to not to go running away at the thought of it. The spell's taken care of now, since it said he'd run away _if_ I wasn't in love with him too. Well, I am. But I know Justin. He's going to - _you're_ going to make him feel guilty about it, and then he's going to decide he's hurting me somehow, and then he'll be trying to run away or kill himself again. Well, that's not going to happen. Is that clear?"

Justin's conscience raised his chin and looked down at Alex, taking a step closer to her. "I understand you, yeah. But what you're doing is wrong. What you want _him_ to do is wrong. So I've got a problem with it."

"Yeah? Well, you need to get over your problem with it!" Alex stepped forward as well, tilting her head back to glare up at him, her hands balled into fists at her sides. "A dead Justin won't do anyone any good. And if he runs away, that's going to hurt me, and Mom and Dad, and Max, and it'll hurt him too. Do you want that to happen?"

"My job isn't about consequences. It's about right and wrong. No can do."

Alex took a couple of steps away from Justin's conscience and raised her wand. "Think about what you're doing," he said then. "You take me away, and Justin won't have a conscience any more. He won't be the same Justin you know and love. Do you want that?"

She took a deep breath, glared at him for a moment, then grinned. "I'm not going to get rid of you. And you're going to go back in Justin." She lowered her wand and quickly moved past Justin's conscience, up onto the stairs that let to the basement door. "But before you go back in, you're going to meet someone."

Tilting his head to the side, Justin's conscience gave Alex a doubtful look. "Yeah? Who's that?"

She waved her wand at something behind him, grinned hugely. "I'm going to let you spend a few minutes with my protective feelings for Justin. Maybe they can persuade you where I can't." Quickly, she ducked out of the room, leaving him behind.

Justin's conscience, still looking doubtful, turned to face Alex's protective feelings for Justin - then stopped short as he found himself face-to-face with what looked like Alex - if Alex were a ten-foot-tall angel in full battle armor, bearing a flaming sword. She gave him a quick grin that had nothing friendly in it and said, "Let's talk."


	16. Alex's Diary 2

I know it's been a little while since I've written, but there's been a good reason. This has been the most wonderful three days of my life. Justin's been great - it looks like my protective feelings got through to his conscience just fine, and he hasn't had any problems since.

I've slept in his room every night. We still haven't gone all the way, but he's stopped trying to push me away, and sleeping in his arms is so nice. It feels like I belong there. Who would've ever figured that _Justin_ could make me feel like this? I knew I had feelings for him, but… I never dreamed we'd be like this. So _right._ So _natural_.

Anyway, I'm probably not going to be writing here a lot for a while. Sneaking around Mom and Dad with Justin is taking a lot of time, and something has to give. And let's face it, I never was the best at writing things down here.

Alex closed her eyes more tightly as the alarm clock went off, and automatically reached out to turn it off. As her hand pressed the polished wood surface of Justin's night table, though, she remembered that he'd moved his alarm clock to his desk, after she'd turned it off two mornings in a row. She started to get up, but Justin pressed down on her hip, said, "I'll get it."

"You'd better. Why do you have an alarm set on Saturday anyway? Weekends are for sleeping in."

The noise stopped, and Justin bent down over his sister, kissed her cheek, then smoothed her hair. "Because not all of us can get by on our natural cuteness. If I'm not downstairs to help open the sub shop, Mom or Dad will come up here looking for me. And if they find you in bed with me, well..."

Alex turned onto her other side and pulled a pillow against her, then let out a muffled, "Let 'em. I'll come up with some excuse."

Sighing, Justin put his hand on Alex's shoulder and turned her back onto her back. "Do I have to carry you back to your room?"

She pulled the covers over her head. "You can't do that. Someone might see."

"Yeah, well, they might see you coming out of the room too."

Pulling the covers back down, Alex gave Justin an exasperated look. "If they see me coming out of your room, they'll think I came in to bother you about something. If they see you carrying me, though, they'll be asking questions. _Think_ for a minute, Justin."

Justin shook his head, said, "I'm not getting you out of my bed right now, am I?"

With a quick grin, Alex said, "Nope. I'm staying right here, where it's warm and cozy. You should get back in with me. You get up too early anyway. Nobody's going to come looking for you for at least an hour."

For a few seconds, Justin looked down at Alex, then he smiled, shook his head, and got back into the bed, nestling in behind his sister. "You're a bad influence."

"It took you this long to figure that out?" She scooted back into him, smiled as Justin wrapped his arms around her. She dozed like that for a few minutes, then opened bleary eyes as she felt something starting to poke her.

"Oh, I see _somebody's_ waking up now." Alex arched her back, pushing her bottom against Justin, then started to rock her hips. "Mmm... do you need something, Justin? Do you have a problem I can help you take care of?"

Justin made a sound somewhere between a moan and a groan, and Alex smiled, then reached a hand back to feel him. "Oh, you're _definitely_ awake there. Well, we're going to have to take care of that before you can go anywhere."

"It's okay," he got out, "you don't have to -"

"Don't be silly." Alex flipped the cover off of them, turned over and scooted down. Justin turned onto his back to let her get to him more easily, then moaned again as she pulled down his boxers, took him in her hand and started move it up and down. "I helped get you like this, so I'll help take care of it."

She looked up at him, smiled at his expression, then lowered her mouth for a moment and licked him. She was rewarded with an immediate "Oh God," followed almost immediately by a "You don't have to do that..."

"I know," she answered. "I want to try it." She brought her mouth down again, took him into it and sucked, taking just the head, and Justin clutched the sheets with his hands and moaned.

And that was when Theresa came in, carrying a basket of laundry. Occupied, it might have taken them a few moments to notice - but her immediate cry of "ALEX!" and dropping the laundry basket onto the floor definitely got their attention.

Alex almost jumped off the bed, her eyes wide, and Justin grabbed for the blankets, pulling them over his revealed erection. Before Alex could even get her mouth open, Theresa was pointing to the door, saying, "Alexandra Margarita Russo! You get to your own room _this instant_!"

"Mom..." she tried, but their mother advanced on her, grabbed her by the arm and physically pulled her from the bed, forcing Alex to walk with her or be dragged. Ignoring Alex's protests, their mother brought her to the door, then pushed her out into the hall with a shouted, "To your room! Now!" and slammed Justin's door in her face.


	17. Separation

Alex waited for a horrible half hour, wondering the whole time what was going on outside her room, but too scared to use magic to try to listen in. She managed to occupy some of that time by changing out of her pajamas, making sure that the "PROPERTY OF JUSTIN RUSSO" set was well-hidden (_And a good thing I wasn't wearing _that_ when Mom came in_), and hiding her diary.

That still left her with far too much time to simply sit and worry, though, and part of her felt relieved when her door finally opened and her mother came in. She stood up from her desk chair (normally, she'd have sat on the bed, but she'd decided reminding her mom of beds right now wasn't the best idea), her expression contrite.

For a few moments, Theresa Russo simply looked at her daughter. Then she shook her head and said, "Alex..."

"Mom, please. Don't blame Justin for this. It's my fault."

Theresa closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again as she started to speak. "Your brother says the same thing - that it's all his fault. I don't know which of you did what," she said, turning her right hand up, "but to be honest, I don't _want_ to know." She emphasized the 'what' with a chop of her hand, turning it back down, then went on. "What I care about is that this _stops_. Right now."

Alex swallowed, nodded slowly. "You are not to spend any time alone with Justin," Theresa said then. "There will be bed checks, so don't even _think_ of trying to sneak into his room."

She paused, seeming to expect some sort of response, and Alex nodded again, said, "I understand."

"Good. And Justin is going to be moving out. The less you two are around each other right now, the better. Your father is -"

"Moving out?" Alex shook her head, said, "But -"

Theresa stepped forward and brought a finger up in front of Alex's nose, her face a mask of tightly controlled anger. "_No_. You are not weaseling your way out of this, young lady. He is moving out. The two of you are staying away from each other. This isn't some silly little prank, or some stupid accident with magic. This is _serious_. Do you understand me?"

Alex stared at her mother in disbelief for a few seconds, and Theresa repeated, more loudly this time, "_Do you understand me?_"

"Yes."

"All right then. _You_ are confined to your room for the rest of the day. And give me your wand." Theresa held her hand out for it, and Alex gave it to her, slowly and reluctantly. "The only reason you are to leave is to go to the bathroom. I'll be checking on you. And I'll bring you food, so don't leave for that either."

All Alex could do was nod again. Her mother looked her over, walked to the door, put her hand on the knob, then looked at Alex again. "You think about what you've done. I know you know this is wrong."

With her mother gone, Alex crossed to her bed, sat down and sagged. After a moment, she lay down, pulling a pillow under her. _They're making him move out? They..._ She started to think 'they can't do that', but she knew they could - and they were, it seemed.

She worked her lower lip between her teeth as she lay there, wondering how she and Justin were going to get through this. It never even occurred to Alex not to try to work around it somehow. _He needs me. I can't let him suffer_. And, although she wouldn't admit it even to herself, she needed him.

The next few days went like this: Alex stayed in her room most of the time. Max and Harper were told that she was grounded, but not for what. Neither of them questioned it much, since Alex was always being grounded for one thing or another, although both noticed that this grounding seemed more severe than usual. Since it was summer, she didn't even have the escape of going to school during the day.

She was allowed out for meals, and _that_ was even worse torture than being stuck in her room, as she sat at the table, Justin sitting only a few feet away, close enough that if they both reached toward each other, they could have touched. But there were too many eyes watching, and all Alex could do was steal glances at him, feel her heart sink at how he looked. To someone who didn't know him, Justin would have seemed normal - but Alex knew his moods, knew his expressions, knew that it wasn't like him to be _this_ quiet, to make only polite responses to questions, rather than holding forth with his knowledge at every opportunity.

Her magic lessons had to proceed, but they were conducted by her father, with him bringing her wand in, supervising her while she studied, then taking it away when she was done. True to her promise, Theresa checked on Alex several times a night, keeping the times random. Sometimes, a few hours would go by between checks; sometimes, she'd check, then come back and check again only ten or fifteen minutes later, so Alex could never feel safe to try something.

Justin had to be allowed out, so that the arrangements for him to move out could be made. She could hear his voice sometimes, talking to their mom or dad, and she closed her eyes and focused on that, not on the words themselves, but on the simple sound of him.

The fourth day, she could hear furniture being moved from Justin's room. She stuck her head out of the door to offer to help, but her mother's answer was a glare, and Alex retreated to her room again, where she paced back and forth, wondering if they were going to boot Justin out without even giving the two of them a chance to say goodbye.

She got her answer a little more than an hour later, when Theresa came up, opened Alex's door without knocking, and told her, "Justin's about to be leaving. Come down and say goodbye."

Alex started for the door at a jog, but Theresa held up her hand to stop her - not that that was necessary, since she was still standing in the doorway. "Max and Harper are both going to be there too. Neither of them knows about what's going on. And you are not going to do anything that might let them know. Understood?"

She nodded eagerly, while part of her felt a little sick at the fact that even being allowed to say goodbye to Justin felt like a reward right now. They went downstairs at a more sedate pace, Theresa in front to enforce that pace. As soon as they were far enough down the stairs to see, Alex looked for Justin, locked eyes with him where he stood by the door. He looked back at her, swallowed visibly.

"Everything's in the car already," he said as Alex was reaching the bottom of the stairs. Then he moved forward to her, took her in his arms, and Alex returned the hug tightly, pushing her face into his shoulder, trying hard not to cry. Theresa looked on with a disapproving expression, while Harper smiled, seeming to find it touching, not at all suspecting the real reason Alex was so upset.

Justin whispered to Alex, "I'll find a way to talk to you. Wait up tonight." Then he continued in a normal tone, saying, "Hey, I'm just moving out to an apartment. It's not like I'm going into the Army."

"I'll miss you anyway," Alex said, and then, realizing that Harper and Max wouldn't take it the way she meant it, and their parents couldn't say anything about it in front of them, she said, "I love you, Justin."

She felt his arms tighten at that, closed her eyes as she listened to his returned, "I love you too." They broke the embrace then, before it ran too long for a brother and sister parting, looked at each other for a few seconds.

Jerry cleared his throat, said, "We need to get going. Don't want to leave the rental truck down there too long." Justin nodded, gave Alex's hand one more squeeze as he moved away.

And then they were gone. Alex returned to her room, wanting to be alone now, and curled up on her bed and wept.


	18. Feelings

Dinner was all kinds of strange. Alex's eyes kept being drawn to the empty spot where Justin should have sat, and she wondered if he was eating dinner too, what he was going to eat. They were having their Mom's ten-cheese enchilada surprise, and there was too much of it, even for Jerry to finish it all off.

_She's still trying to cook enough for all five of us. _Alex's mouth twisted a little at that, and she looked around then, taking in everyone's faces. Theresa's expression was tight, but it kept gravitating toward a frown, and she too kept looking at Justin's chair. Max seemed as oblivious as always, talking, making jokes that the rest of them politely smiled at. She was sure that Jerry was unhappy as well - it didn't show on his face the way it did on Theresa's, but he was quiet all through dinner, and his eyes avoided Justin's place.

After dinner, Alex excused herself to go to her room. They let her, and she tried to watch TV to occupy herself, but she couldn't concentrate on the show.

"Hi."

Alex looked up at the sound, then smiled at Harper, patted the spot beside her on the bed. "Hi," she said back. "Have a seat. I take it Mom decided it was okay for the prisoner to have visiting hours?"

"Yeah, something like that." Harper closed the door behind her and came to the bed, sat down. "So… what did you do, anyway? Your mom never really told me."

"I…." Alex looked at Harper, made a pained expression. "I'm sorry. It's about Justin, and I don't feel like I can tell you without his permission. I'd like to, but… it's not really my secret to tell." She put a hand on top of one of Harper's. "Is that okay?"

The other girl nodded, put her other hand on top of Alex's, squeezed lightly. "Sure. I know you trust me. And I know if you can tell me, you will."

"Thanks." Alex turned and lay down on the bed, looked up at the ceiling.

Harper watched her friend for a moment, then asked, "So... what do you want to do?"

"Get out of here," Alex said with a little laugh. "But since we can't do that, I guess we'll have to find something else. What do _you_ want to do?"

Alex had known she'd regret asking that question, but really, they couldn't do much in the way of _her_ favorite things while stuck in her room. Except sleep, and that wasn't exactly a partner activity. _Well, not with Harper, at least. Wish I could be sleeping and cuddling with Justin again. And thinking of that..._

And so Alex spent the next couple of hours helping Harper with her latest clothing creations (Alex refused to call what Harper was making 'fashion'), until she finally begged off just after ten, claiming sleepiness.

Once Harper was gone, Alex went to her dresser, dug down to where she'd hidden her 'PROPERTY OF JUSTIN RUSSO' pajamas, took those out, then turned the shirt inside-out before putting them on. _There. Now if Mom still tries to check up on me in the night, she won't see what it says._

Smiling over her own cleverness, Alex went to brush her teeth. Justin's toothbrush was missing, of course, and she wondered where the apartment they'd found for him was. She knew better than to try to ask Mom or Dad where it was, and was pretty sure neither Harper nor Max knew. _Hope it's nice. Probably not, though. I wonder what he's doing right now... unpacking, maybe? How much stuff did he take?_

"Alex?"

She blinked as she heard Justin's voice, then immediately looked for him, even going to the extent of pulling back the shower curtain. "Justin?" she said then. "Where are you?"

"I'm at my apartment," came the answer. "Dad got Professor Crumbs to put up a teleport block over the Sub Station and the rest of the building, so I can't get to you that way. But it looks like they didn't think to block telepathy."

"Oh. Does that mean I can just _think_ to you?" she asked, trying it.

"Yeah. I figured they still wouldn't be giving you back your wand, and they could check your phone to see if I called. But they can't check this." Justin seemed pleased with himself, and Alex smiled a little as well, imagining his expression.

Alex finished brushing her teeth, thought to him as she did. "So, teleport block, huh? I guess that'll stop me from teleporting out too?"

"Of course. They seem pretty determined to keep us apart right now."

"You going for understatement of the year there?" She paused a moment as she rinsed her toothbrush and put it away, then went back to her bedroom. Once inside the door, she thought, "So... where are you?"

"Up around Harlem." Alex felt more than heard the wryness as Justin thought, "I think they wanted to put me as far away as they could."

"I'm sure they did. Is it nice? Are you okay there?"

His smile, too, was something that she felt through the link. "It's okay. Not great, but I'll manage. I'm more worried about you."

Alex almost laughed at that, thought back, "No, I'm more worried about _you_!"

"We can both be worried about _us_," he replied. "How does that sound?"

"Us... I like the sound of that." Alex lay down on her bed, took a pillow and hugged it to her, closing her eyes and pretending it was Justin. "I love you," she thought then.

"I love you too. We're going to get through this. They can't keep us apart forever. You'll be eighteen in four months, and then..." He paused a moment, and Alex could feel Justin's fear then, knew what he wanted to say, what he was afraid of.

"Yes. Then I'll move in with you. I want to."

She felt his relief then, didn't really need to hear the "Thank you" he sent. For a few moments, they were both silent, and with her eyes closed, concentrating on the link to Justin, Alex could feel his presence almost as if he were really there. She imagined the slow, steady rhythm of his breathing, the way he'd felt against her those few nights they'd shared, and wanted badly to be in his arms again.

"I miss you," she thought. "I really miss you."

"I know. I miss you too. We've got this right now, though... and in a week or two, Mom and Dad should be calmed down and letting you out of the house again. And then we'll work something out, manage to see each other again."

Alex opened her eyes then, frowned a little. "Wait... I'm not going to see you at the sub station?"

"No." Justin's thought was a little bitter. "Dad fired me, you could say. Doesn't matter - I'll get an actual job, one that really pays. I'll need one anyway. They paid the security deposit and first and last month's rent, but I don't want to be dependent on them for rent money... or else they'll just take it away when you move in."

"Okay. I wish I could see you, though." Alex frowned, then brightened as she had a thought. "Did you take your laptop?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"We can chat on there. Not tonight, I know - but in a few days, once Mom gets tired of checking on me at night."

"That'd be nice." Alex felt Justin's pleasure at the thought, a warm, happy feeling, and she stretched herself out and luxuriated in it, feeling better than she had in days. With the relief came a wave of sleepiness, and she yawned then, covered her mouth as she did "'Scuse me."

His laughter was something she felt as well, and it was bright and clean, and made her smile. "You go to sleep," he sent then. "I'll keep this going until you do." He paused a moment, then told her, "I love you," again, and she could feel it this time, soft and warm and pleasant, a safe feeling that suffused her.

She didn't say it back, but simply concentrated on the feeling, hoping he could feel her love the way she was feeling his, and after a moment, she was sure he did, as she could sense his contentment, feel him growing sleepy even as she was.


	19. Love Finds a Way

The telepathy got to almost be a game. Justin 'showed' Alex the spell, through their link, and for the next few days, they chatted frequently, even while Alex was at dinner with their parents, or while she was in the living room watching TV.

Justin missed the rest of the family, and Alex kept him updated about what was going on at home - and about the fact that Mom and Dad were clearly missing him. Theresa kept cooking for five, and was even more irritable than usual. Jerry seemed to throw himself into running the sandwich shop during the day, and teaching Alex magic in the evenings. He too, though, was irritable, and kept snapping at Alex during lessons, then apologizing.

Alex was positively gleeful at sneaking around under their noses like that, of course. Justin worried that he was encouraging her bad habits, but he couldn't bring himself to stop either, and he consoled himself with the thought that her being that happy about 'sneaking around' that way was at least keeping her from pressuring him to try to teleport in or teleport her out yet.

_Crumbs knows what he's doing. I'm not going to be able to get through without him knowing... but he can't block the whole city. So once they start letting Alex out again, seeing her will be simple enough. In the meantime, though..._

Justin adjusted the screen of his laptop a bit, centering his image in the webcam's view, took a second to check his teeth and hair. This would be the first time they'd actually seen each other in four days, and he wanted to make sure he looked his best. Switching to the chat window, he typed, "Okay. Starting the connection now."

Alex's return was a "kk", and he smiled indulgently at that, then smiled more when her image came up on his screen, hair mussed a little from the day, eyes looking a little sleepy, pajama top on inside-out... and looking absolutely beautiful despite all that.

"Hi," he said quietly, to give Alex a chance to adjust her speakers, in case they were turned up too loud. "It's so good to see you."

She smiled, said, "It's good to see you too." For a few seconds, they just looked at each other, then Alex asked, "Did you get dressed up for this?"

"Yeah," Justin admitted with a slight blush and a shrug.

"That's sweet. Sorry I didn't."

"Don't worry about it." Justin reached a hand up, hovered his fingers an inch or so from his sister's image on the screen. "You're always beautiful to me."

"Well... yes, I am." Alex tilted her head to the side and gave Justin her 'aren't-I-cute' smile.

Justin smiled back and nodded. "You are. I love you exactly the way you are."

"Even when I tease you?"

"Even when you tease me. Even when you play pranks on me. I don't think I'd know what to do if you were nice to me _all_ the time."

For a few moments, they just looked at each other, still smiling. Then Alex said, "Dork. But you're _my_ dork. And I love you." Justin made a kiss at Alex, and she made one back.

They smiled again, and then Alex said, "Okay, so... pick up your laptop and give me the tour. I want to see where I'm going to be living once I turn eighteen."

That got a grimace. "Okay, but fair warning. It's not exactly the greatest place."

"Yeah, yeah." Alex waved that aside, said, "Show me already." She watched then as Justin moved out of frame, and then the camera started to move, slowly to the left.

"Okay, so... there's the front door." He kept panning, and a sort-of alcove came into view, with a refrigerator, stove, and sink all lined up, and a few cabinets above them. "And that's the kitchen." The next wall had a window with an old-fashioned heater under it. A small table with one chair sat there. "That's the dining room."

Justin kept turning, and a beanbag chair and bookshelf came into view. "And this is the study," he went on, his tone joking. The third wall had another window on the right, and a door on the left side. "Bathroom. Conveniently located next to the bedroom," he said, turning to show where a futon was folded down into a bed. Next to it was another door - presumably to the closet - and his desk on the other side, doing double duty as a night table as well.

"And there you have it. It's not much, but it's home."

"Wow. I knew Dad would put you somewhere cheap, but... it's all one room?"

"Well, yeah. Even uptown, Manhattan apartments aren't cheap. This one's nine hundred a month." Justin set the laptop back down, then sat down in front of it again.

Alex smiled, then said, "Not important. I don't really care what it's like, as long as it has you. Oh heck," she said then, and shot Justin a quick look, then said, "Just doing homework, Mom."

Justin could hear Theresa's voice faintly, but couldn't make out what she was saying. He turned his head and bent down closer to the laptop's speakers, trying to make it out, but still couldn't tell, and after a few seconds sat back up. When he did, he saw that Alex had gotten up.

He fought back a sigh, not sure if they were in the room and might hear it or not, then thought to click the 'mute' button. _Still checking on her, I guess. Damn. I hoped they'd have stopped that by now._

A moment later, Alex sat back down, and he could see her reaching down to her laptop's trackpad, then smiling a moment later, apparently having moved whatever she'd popped up over the chat window. "Hey. Sorry about that."

"It's okay. At least maybe she won't check again for a while."

"Yeah, she's stopped the surprise ten-minute-later ones. So... where are you up there? What are you close to?"

"It's on 139th, close to 7th Avenue." Justin raised a hand, said, "But don't try to come up here, okay? I'm going to come down to see you in a couple of days, if they're letting you out then."

Alex sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay."

Knowing that tone, Justin gave her a level look, said, "Promise me."

She shot back an irritated look, then saw his expression. "Okay, okay - I promise. Cross my heart." Alex traced a quick 'X' on her chest as she said that, and Justin nodded and smiled again.

They spent another hour talking about nothing. Justin talked about looking for a job, even though he'd already told Alex most of it. She listened anyway, just to hear his voice and watch him. A little after midnight, Justin begged off, saying he needed to get up early the next morning.


	20. Panic

"I don't know how much longer I can take this!" Alex sat in front of the computer, hands in her hair, making little jerking motions with her arms as if she were trying to tear it out.

On her screen, Justin's expression showed worry as he watched her. "Alex... we knew it could be a while. It's only been a week. It's not as quick as I wanted either, but..." He shrugged, giving her a 'what can you do?' look.

_That_ provoked a growl from Alex. "You don't have to be so _happy_ about it! Don't you _want_ to see me?"

In his apartment, Justin fought to keep his eyes from rolling. As much as he loved Alex, he knew very well that patience wasn't her strong suit, and he'd never been good at dealing with her when she was in this kind of a mood. "You know I want to see you," he answered. "I'm here chatting with you every night. I found the telepathy spell so we can talk during the day. If it weren't for Professor Crumb's teleport block -"

"Oh, _screw_ the teleport block!" Alex threw her hands up, making a face. "You're supposed to be the big magic genius, find a way around it! Or - oh, just screw you!"

"Alex -" Before he could get any farther, she'd clicked her mouse and closed the chat, causing a "The other party has disconnected" to pop up over the video window.

_Dammit. _Justin put his elbows on his desk, held his forehead in his hands for a second, then sat back up suddenly and slammed his desk with his fist. He _ought _to just go to bed, he knew - Alex could pout for days when she didn't get her way, but she never stayed _angry_ for long - but knowing that intellectually and feeling it emotionally were two very different things, and Justin knew there was no way he'd be able to sleep while he was worried about her being angry at him.

_All right. Time for desperate measures. _Standing up, Justin found his keys and wallet, then slipped on his shoes.

Meanwhile, Alex lay on her bed, face drawn up tightly in anger, turned away from the computer. _God. It's like he doesn't even realize how hard this is for me. How much I'm missing him._ _And _he_ can go out all he wants, while _I'm_ stuck here like I'm on house arrest, with Mom still acting like I'm going to try to run away the moment her back is turned._

She clutched her pillow for a moment, then turned over and glared at the ceiling. _And _they_ still get to see Justin. _Indeed, just yesterday their mother had gone uptown for a visit, taking Justin his favorite bland pumpkin pie. Part of Alex was happy that they felt bad about kicking him out... but another part of her compared that to how they were treating _her_. _Nobody's making special pies for me. Even kicked out, he's still their favorite._

Alex growled again, letting off steam, then grabbed one of her throw pillows. _Throw pillow, huh? Well here you go!_ She threw it up at the ceiling, hard enough that it bounced off, even with the high ceiling of her room. Turning on her side then, she opened the drawer of her nightstand, dug down into it, then pulled out the picture she'd hidden there, looked at it.

For a few moments, she simply stared at it, at Justin's smile, frozen there in full color. In the picture, his arms were around Alex, almost lifting her up, and she was laughing, the two of them under the bright blue sky of Puerto Rico.

Max had taken that picture, she remembered, while she and Justin were horsing around on vacation there, two days after they'd found the Stone of Dreams. Alex shivered, remembering that trip - her wish, losing Max, winning the wizard competition, then losing Justin. A stab of remembered anguish went through her, and she sat up off the bed, moved toward her desk, stopped and turned back as she remembered the picture in her hand, tucking it away again. Then it was back to the computer, where she opened the chat program back up, double-clicked Justin's name.

_Hi_, she typed. _I'm sorry._

She waited for an answer. After a few moments, she started to count the seconds, and when she got to a full minute, she typed again.

_R u there?_

_Please, I'm sorry._

_Justin?_

_?_

_I still love you. Sry I yelled u._

She sighed, let out a breath, kept watching the screen for another couple of minutes, just in case. Biting her lip then, Alex pushed back from the computer, turned the screen off, got into bed, turned off the lamp. Closing her eyes, she ran through the telepathy spell quickly. _Justin?_

There was no answer, and no feeling of being connected to him. Alex sat up immediately, her eyes opening wide. _No. I just did the spell wrong. Or it didn't work because I don't have my wand. Or he's asleep. He wouldn't kill himself. He _wouldn't.

Even as she thought that, though, Alex was getting out of her bed, flicking the light on, going to her closet and grabbing out clothes.


	21. Friends Get You There

Leaving off her shoes, Alex went out into the hallway and padded silently to her parents' door, then put her ear against it and listened. She could hear her dad's snoring loud and clear, and under it, the somewhat softer tones of her mother's as well. _I wonder how they manage to both sleep, with both of them snoring like that. It's a good thing Justin doesn't snore. I'd have to put a silence spell on him to sleep with him, if he did._

Knowing that neither of her parents was going to wake easily if they were both snoring, Alex quickly put her shoes on, leaning against the hallway wall as she tied the laces. I'm definitely going to want shoes where I'm going next. Once they were on, she stepped to Max's door, opened it slowly and silently. It opened into his room, and Alex pushed it open very slowly, knowing that before it got too far open - yep. She got it about six inches before it hit something. _Probably dirty clothes. At least, I hope it's nothing worse than that._ Leaning into the door, she pushed it open another few inches, then slipped through the opening.

She didn't have a wand or flashlight, but that didn't matter - like Justin and their father, Max slept like a rock. Alex flicked the light switch, blinked a couple of times while her eyes adjusted, then smiled as she spotted Max's wand, lying next to the lamp by his bed. Once she had the wand in hand, Alex flipped the light back off, closed the door with her still in the room, then pictured her destination, pointed the wand up, and circled the tip in the air.

Appearing in the kitchen, Alex smiled. _Just like falling off a log. And I'm right where I wanted to be._ She didn't even have to take a step to reach the jar where Mom kept a few extra dollars. Alex stuffed the money into her pocket, put the jar back, then circled her wand again, appearing this time on the street, where she raised her hand as if hailing a cab, even though none were in sight. She used her thumb and pinkie to hold her wand across her palm, and her left hand went to her mouth, helping her make a shrill whistle.

Moments later, there was the sound of an engine, and then Burt the cab came down the street, his door swinging open as he stopped in front of Alex. "Hey, kid," he said. "Good to see you and all, but isn't it a little late for you to be up?"

"Yeah. It's kind of an emergency. Can you get me to this address?" She held up the scrap of paper on which she'd written down Justin's address, not sure where to put it.

"What? Do I look like I have eyes in here? And no, don't go outside in front of my headlights. Just read it to me, kid."

Alex read it off, and Burt was in motion before she'd finished. "Harlem? What do you need to get to up in Harlem at a quarter 'til midnight? You're not in trouble, are you?"

"No, but - hey! What are you doing?" Alex asked as the seat belt moved itself around her, buckling her in.

"You were born in me, kid. I'm not having you die in me too. And don't you roll your eyes at me, little lady," Burt said as Alex did just that. "I"ve seen a lot of accidents in my years. Anyway, you were saying, about trouble?"

"Justin might be in trouble. That's his address - he's in an apartment now."

Burt was silent for a second as they rounded a corner, then said, "Shouldn't your parents be helping him?"

"They're kind of the problem right now. It's a family thing."

"Uh-huh. Those are always the worst. I've seen it all, kid. You get everything in this business. Couples in the middle of breaking up. Couples making up. Families visiting relatives. Kids running away from home. Families going to visit their kid in the hospital. If you wanna talk, I'll listen. If you don't wanna talk, then just enjoy the ride. I'll get you there as fast as a magic cab can."

"Thanks," Alex said, smiling a little. "It means a lot."

"No problem. Least I can do."

Fifteen minutes later, Burt pulled up in front of the building. "How much do I owe you?" Alex asked, pulling out the money she'd taken and starting to flip through it.

"Owe me? Alex, kid! You know I won't take your money! Keep it. Buy yourself something pretty."

"Thanks, Burt." The door opened on its own, and Alex stepped out, giving Burt a pat on the roof as she did. "You're the best. I owe you one."

"Fuhgeddaboutit, kid. You just get up there and find that brother of yours. He loves you, you know."

"I know," she said back to that, smiling. _You have no idea how. But that's okay._

As Burt pulled away, Alex walked up to the door, looked around, then muttered "_Go through mo through_" under her breath and walked in. Alex barely noticed the lobby as she strode forward to the elevators. There were two of them, each with a mechanical pointer to show the current floor, although on one of them, the pointer part was missing.

Alex pressed the 'up' button, then pressed it again when it didn't light up. It still didn't light on the second press, but she heard the sound of machinery moving, so she stepped back and then took a good look around the entrance area. It was tiny and obviously old, the floor and walls dirty. To the right was a grid of mailboxes, to the left, a door was marked STAIRS, with the lower half of the 'R' missing.

_Not exactly as nice a place as it looked from just seeing Justin's apartment. _She took a deep breath and looked back to the elevators. The pointer hadn't moved on the one that still had one, and she sighed again and hoped the elevators were working. _I'll give it another minute._

Ten seconds later, she smiled in relief as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Hustling inside, she hit the four button, hit it again, hit DOOR CLOSE twice as well, then tapped her foot and rolled her eyes until the door began to close.

The elevator jerked as it started, and Alex counted the seconds. _I could have walked up faster than this. I should have. Please, please, Justin, don't do anything stupid. I need you._ Her knuckles went white as she raised her hand to her mouth, sucked on the first joint of her index finger as she thought about what she'd say to him.

Then there was another ding, and the door opened again. Alex turned sideways to get out, then had to move quickly to the side as she almost - as she _did_ run into a white-haired woman who was trying to get in. Thankfully, she'd forgotten to cancel the go-through-mo-through spell, and she simply went through the woman's arm.

"Oh, my!" The woman took a step back, focused on Alex, then shook her head. "Girl, you need to watch out. You're gonna knock someone down like that, one of these days."

"You're right," Alex said, walking backward as she apologized to the woman. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again." She turned and broke into a jog, looking at the numbers on the doors as she went.

"You will if you don't watch where you're goin'!" the woman called after her, but Alex ignored her, turning right, toward where Justin's apartment should be. Thirty feet later, she skidded to a stop, looked at the number 421 on the door, blinked and straightened her skirt, then walked through.


	22. Reunited

"Justin?" The room was dark, and Alex felt for a moment for the light switch, found it, flipped it. The overhead light came on - or at least, two of the three bulbs did, and Alex frowned at that. _Justin never could stand a burnt-out bulb. If he hasn't replaced it already, he's having money problems._

She realized something else then - the room smelled of paint. It wasn't a strong smell, but it was definitely present, and as Alex looked about, she saw two paint cans, a roller and pan, brush, and tape and spackle, all hidden under Justin's desk, where Alex wouldn't see it when he showed her the room via his laptop's camera.

_He repainted. Well, that explains why the walls here didn't look nasty like those in the rest of the place. And he didn't want me to know he did._ Alex's mouth twisted, and she shook her head. _Justin, Justin, Justin. Always feeling like he has to protect me. Doesn't want me to know the place he's living isn't really that nice._

_And speaking of Justin, where the heck is he?_ She crossed to the bathroom door, opened it, not looking in as she said, "Justin?" There was no response, and she turned to look, saw that the bathroom was empty -and, like the rest of the apartment, freshly painted.

She tried the closet as well, just in case, but was completely unsurprised to find it empty as well. _Well, damn. Look at me. Think I'm being clever using Burt to get here, since I can't teleport to somewhere not really knowing where I'm going… but no. Clever planning not helping._ She moved over to his desk, looked at the papers spread out on it, but nothing there seemed helpful.

_If I had my own wand instead of Max's, I'd have that tracking app I got - what am I thinking? _That_ I can do._ She tapped Max's wand against her left hand as she thought, then nodded. "_My Dad's dresser is a lousy place for it to be, so bring my wand straight to me._" Her wand appeared in her unoccupied left hand, and Alex smiled, then switched the wands between her hands. "_With my own wand, I can relax; so send the other back to Max._"

Max's wand disappeared, and Alex immediately brought hers up, level in front of her, brought up the menu and began scrolling through. _Here we go._ She selected the tracker, frowned at the map that came up. _What the heck? This isn't New York. Where the hell _is_ Justin?_

* * *

"So." Professor Crumbs moved a stack of books from a chair, blew a cloud of dust off it. "You'll have to excuse the condition of my office - the library is being renovated, and I volunteered my office for storage space." Rather than his normal wizard robes, Crumbs was wearing a pink bathrobe - but with his wizard hat.

Justin coughed and nodded, then carefully sat down in the chair that Crumbs had freed, while the professor moved to the other side of the desk and sat down in his own chair. "It's not a problem. Thank you for seeing me at this hour."

"Of course, my boy. You know I'm always happy to see you." Crumbs laid his forearms flat on his desk, right hand atop his left. "What can I do for you?"

Scooting his chair a little closer, Justin said, "Sir… I've come to ask you to lift the teleport block you placed on my parents' home." Crumbs raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth, but Justin held up a hand. "Look, I know what you're going to say… but Alex and I are in love. Real, true love. She's going to be eighteen in four months, and they won't be able to stop us then."

He paused, licked his lips and stood up. "I know society says what we're doing is wrong. But sir… you can test us. This is real love. I know it is. And -"

Crumbs waved a hand and cut Justin off. "Justin, I sympathize with you and Alex. Truly, I do. However -"

"Justin!" Alex ran in and threw her arms around her brother, hugging him tightly, burying her face against his neck. Blinking in surprise, he put his arms around her as well.

"Alex? What are you -"

"Finding _you_, of course!" She pulled back a little and glared up at him. "Don't you _ever_ run off like that again! I was worried about you!"

"Sorry," he said, returning her glare with a smile. "I didn't mean to worry you." Justin stroked his sister's hair for a moment, his eyes tearing up a little as he held Alex for the first time in over a week. Then he hugged her tightly, lifting her up a little, and Alex smiled, slipping her arms around Justin's waist and squeezing him in return. "God, I missed you, Alex. I love you."

"I love you too," she said, not even caring that Crumbs was there. "Oh, it's so good to be here with you."

Smiling, Justin brushed his fingers through Alex's hair, then bent his head down to kiss her.

"A-hem," Crumbs said, giving the pair of them a look. "If you don't mind, while the two of you may be happy to spend some time with each other, I'd be much happier if I were still asleep."

"Oh, umm… sorry," Justin said, blushing a little. Alex turned partway around, still holding on to Justin.

With a small sigh, Professor Crumbs waved his hand to the side. "As I was starting to say, I sympathize with you. However, since you are both here, there is something that I must explain to both of you. Please, sit."

Alex moved to the cleared-off chair and sat down, while Justin looked about. Seeing that there was no other chair available, he moved behind Alex and set his hands on the back of the chair. Alex tilted her head back and smiled up at him for a moment.

Crumbs looked from Justin to Alex, then back to Justin. "The two of you cannot be together."


	23. Boom

"What?" Justin and Alex both said it together, and Justin continued, "But you were just saying you sympathize with us, and -"

Holding up his hand in a 'stop' gesture, Crumbs raised his voice. "I did not say you_ should_ not be together. I said you _cannot_. Not in the way you wish, not now."

"Why not?" Alex asked, standing up again and walking forward to face Crumbs across his desk. Justin followed, looking at Crumbs with wary curiosity, tinged with a hint of defiance as he put his arms around his sister's waist, holding her from behind.

"Each of you is infused with a portion of the Russo Family magic. Should the two of you -" He paused a moment, frowning deeply, then said, "Pardon me. I'm not used to employing this sort of frank language, but... should the two of you engage in coitus, the portions of the family magic in you may be able to bridge the gap between you and recombine. Orgasm - particularly male orgasm - is the trigger point."

Alex frowned, then said, "Okay. Now could you tell us that in English instead of Frank's language, whoever he is?"

Crumbs rolled his eyes. "Let me put it succinctly, then." He held up his hands in front of him, balled together at chest level. "If the two of you have sex," he said, then flung his hands out, splaying his fingers, "Boom."

"Wait - _boom_?" Alex blinked. "We'll _explode_?"

"It's not a certainty, but it's a distinct possibility. The exact results of magic recombining are impossible to predict, but that is a likely one." Lifting one hand back up, Crumbs started to tick off on his fingers. "Other possible effects include the creation of dimensional rifts, spontaneous duplication, complete power loss for one or both of you -"

"Okay, I get it," Alex said, scowling. "Us having sex equals bad. What can we do about it?"

Justin frowned, then said, "Umm... can I ask why you're only telling us this now? I mean... if it can be so dangerous -"

"It's rather rare for siblings to be sexually attracted to each other," Crumbs said dryly. "Thus, usually the warning is unnecessary. And, of course, we've found in the past that with teenagers - especially _some _teenagers," he said, with a direct look at Alex, "- telling them _not_ to do something makes it more likely that they _will_ do it." He spread his hands and tilted his head. "And, of course, I must admit there is a certain reluctance to speak to the younger generation about sexual matters."

"What if I gave him a blowjob? Would that -"

"Boom," Crumbs said, making the same gesture as before. "If your brother orgasms with _any _part of his body inside _any _part of yours, it could be triggered. It can also be triggered if you orgasm with any part of his body in you." Crumbs paused for a moment, then said, "And I suppose I might as well be complete - the same applies to any part of your body being in him."

Alex frowned, then gave Crumbs a speculative look. "Tongues? Like, if we're kissing and I -"

"Boom," Crumbs repeated with a nod. "His..." He stopped a moment, closed his eyes for a second, then got out, "penis in you is the most likely to cause it, due to the mystical correspondences involved, but any penetration at the moment of orgasm carries the risk."

"What kind of risk are we talking about here?" Justin asked. "Can you give me a percentage?"

Crumbs raised an eyebrow, then said, "Do you really want to take even a one-in-a-hundred chance that both of you would die for this?"

Justin looked at Crumbs for a moment, then sighed and shook his head. "No," he admitted.

Alex spoke again then, saying, "Hand jobs?" and Crumbs rolled his eyes, but nodded.

"Yes, that's safe. And he can... rub you externally," Crumbs got out, but not without reddening. As long as there is no penetration at orgasm, you are safe." Alex opened her mouth again, but this time Crumbs held up his hand and said, "Please, spare an old man. I think you have enough information now."

"One more," Justin put in, and Crumbs looked at him, took in his serious expression, then nodded. "You said it's because of each of us having a portion of the family magic. Once we've had the competition, and only one of us has the magic, then -"

"Yes," Crumbs said with a slow nod. "Then, the two of you may be together in any way you wish, and it will not concern me in the least. Now... good night to both of you." He walked around the desk, past the two of them, to the door. As he was on his way out, Crumbs stopped, then stepped back into the room, closing the door again behind him. Justin and Alex looked at him, frowning a little in curiosity.

"Justin, Alex - you've both been very dear to me as students." He looked at them from under his bushy white brows for a moment, then cleared his throat a little. "I want you to know - I have no objection to you being together, beyond the one we've just discussed. That's why I've given you the... level of detail that I have. If you choose the route I think you will, it will not be easy for you. But my office door will always be open to you both, together or separately, whatever you should need."

Alex smiled and nodded, blinking back tears, and Justin said, "Thank you, Sir. You have no idea how much that means."

"I know it better than you think," Crumbs said, then nodded to them again. "You've always been a good boy, Justin. And I know how much you care about him, Alex. I have no doubt that the two of you can get through this. But now... good night. And take care of each other," he finished as he opened the door, stepped out, then closed it behind him.

They both stared at the door for a few moments, Alex still in Justin's arms, leaning against him a little. Then Justin cleared his throat. "Alex... I -"

She held the back of her hand up against his mouth, said, "If any part of what you're going to say includes something like, 'we have to stop', or 'we can never be together', I'm not listening. Justin... I love you. Really. And if we have to wait a year to be able to... do things, I'm okay with that. It... it's kind of better that way. I don't want to rush this with you."

Justin nodded, smiling at her, then sighed. "We should get you back home. It must be two o'clock by now. And... as much as I'd like to keep you with me, it'd be best if Mom and Dad didn't find out about this right now.

Alex turned around in Justin's arms, leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, breathing in through her nose, taking in the manly, slightly musky scent of her brother, tinged with the aftershave he used. "Justin - I was in your apartment. I saw how you repainted for me. I want you to tell me what it's really like there."


	24. Do What You Can

"You were there? Why -"

"Duh, I was looking for you, Dorkus," Alex said. "I mean, I sign off mad at you, come back two minutes later, try to IM you, and you don't answer. Then I tried the telepathy spell, and that didn't work either, so -"

"Yeah, it doesn't work from the mortal world to the wizard world," Justin said. "Sorry, I should have told you that."

Alex nodded, said, "I figured that out already. Once I knew you were here -"

"How _did_ you find me anyway?" Justin asked, frowning curiously.

Smiling, Alex stretched up a little and kissed her brother's cheek. "I'm not telling you that. Let's just say I'm better at magic than you think. But we're getting off the subject here," she said then, pulling back slightly as Justin moved to try to kiss her. "So, how bad is it there?"

Justin took in a deep breath, let it out in a slight huff, grimaced. "It's not exactly the Tipton. The building's run down, the air conditioning isn't great, I'm kind of worried about whether the heat's going to work in winter."

"I'm not worried about heat," Alex said with a little grin. "We can find ways to stay warm."

"But yeah - I repainted so it'd look nicer. And I got the landlord to replace the locks - no telling who has keys to the old ones. I hear noises, sometimes at night. Shouting, thumps. Haven't heard anything that sounded like a gunshot, though, and the landlord seems to actually care about security - he's got a camera in the lobby, and a security guy on duty at night." Justin grimaced again, said, "So if there's any drug deals going on or anything like that, they're happening in the apartments, not in the lobby or the halls."

Alex didn't say anything right away, looking at Justin with a slightly worried expression. She wasn't sure she believed him, and she knew beyond a doubt that if he thought lying to her would make her feel better, he would. But on the other hand, he hadn't raised any objections to her coming and living with him once she was eighteen, and she was sure that he wouldn't let her stay here if he thought it wasn't safe. So….

"Okay. Just… don't hide things from me, okay? If you don't like it there -"

"I don't have a lot of other options at the moment," Justin replied. "But I am going to look for somewhere else for us, before you move in." He sighed, said, "I don't know if I'll be able to afford better, though. Especially since, if you move in, Mom and Dad certainly aren't going to be helping."

"I'm not worried about it," Alex said, and moved in to kiss Justin's cheek again. She smiled, said, "I can take care of myself. Anyone tries anything, I'll zap 'em. And I can get a job, get us some extra money."

"A job? You?" Justin raised an eyebrow. "You realize they'll likely expect you to get to work before noon?"

Alex shrugged. "Yeah, well… don't expect miracles, but I'm willing to make an effort. For us." She snuggled into him closer, this time didn't pull away when Justin bent his head down and kissed her on the lips, very softly. She sighed into it slightly, tightened her arms around him, pressed up into the kiss, moving her lips, pulling at his, then letting her tongue out just slightly, tasting him.

Justin moved forward slightly, and Alex felt the backs of her thighs press against the edge of Crumbs' desk. A small tingle ran through her at that, and she kissed Justin harder, pulled him forward against her.

Neither knew who started it, but within seconds, they were grinding against each other and moaning as they kissed deeply, and then Alex was pulling on Justin's shirt, dropping it to the floor. She tried to move to kiss his chest, but he moved first, picking her up and sitting her on the edge of the desk, then moving his head down, stringing kisses down Alex's throat, sucking lightly with each one. His left hand was on her right breast, massaging it, and she moaned again, more loudly this time, started to undo Justin's pants. "We can't -" he breathed out, but Alex cut him off.

"I want to do something for you. I've missed this - I didn't even know how much I missed this," she said, stroking his hard shaft through his boxers now, then pulling them to the side, glad for the stretchy knit material, grasping his shaft and beginning to move her hand on it.

"Oh, Alex, that feels so -" Justin cut off as his sister slid off the desk, pushing him back, and took him in her mouth, licking him in a way that immediately brought out a moan. After a moment, as Justin's brain recovered, he started trying to pull her off, albeit not with much force. "You have to stop… we can't risk…."

She took him out of her mouth, licked along the side, looked up at Justin, her eyes sultry. "I know what I'm doing," she said, and she stepped around him to the chair, sat on the edge of it, pulled him around with her hand. Quickly, she shed her blouse, then her bra, then placed her hand on Justin's thigh, pulled him forward.

He frowned, not knowing what she was doing - until Alex pressed up against him, took her hands and pressed her breasts together around him, started to move up and down. Justin began to move as well, looking down into her eyes as she grinned up at him. "Do you like this? I know they're not really big, but -"

"They're perfect. You're perfect," Justin said, brushing fingers through Alex's thick, dark hair. "Oh… it's not going to take much right now…." Alex grinned wickedly, leaned forward and tongued Justin's belly button, and his fingers closed into a fist, holding part of her hair as he stroked faster against her. She shifted one arm, using her forearm to press herself around him, stroked his shaft with her fingertips - and then Justin moaned, and she jumped a little as she felt warm, wet fluid hitting her on the neck and upper chest.

"Oh! Oh, wow… Justin, have you been saving up for me or something?"

"Umm… sorry." He blushed brightly, looking around for something to help Alex clean up with, then realizing there was nothing in Crumbs' office that would possibly serve. _Wait - what am I doing? I'm a wizard. _Justin pulled out his wand - the magical one - then said, "_Spermus disappearus._"

Alex looked down at her chest, raised her eyebrows. "That's… useful. Did you make that up?"

Ignoring her question, Justin stooped, put one arm under Alex's knees, the other behind her back, then picked her up, causing her to squeal. "Ahh! Justin, what are you -" She cut off as he set her down on Crumbs' desk, laying her on her back, then undid Alex's pants, grabbed them and tugged them down, off her hips, then pulled them completely off of her. "Oh… you don't have to…."

"I know. I want to. Now lay back and enjoy." Justin kissed Alex through her panties, then pulled the crotch aside, laid a finger along Alex's folds, began to rub with circular motions. She was very wet, and he felt an urge to push his finger into her, but resisted it, instead moving his finger aside to lick along her, tasting her, moved up and flicked his tongue across her sensitive nub.

Alex shivered and squirmed, put her hands on Justin's head. "Oh, yes… just like that. Please, Justin…." Smiling at that, Justin flicked more, then kissed her there with a sucking kiss, worked his tongue against her, earning another shiver. "Oh… oh…." Justin rubbed against her with a finger, turning it backward so the knuckles were against her - mostly because it would be harder for him to accidentally slip it into her that way.

All Alex knew, though, was that whatever Justin was doing felt incredible, and the shivers turned into shudders, moving up and down her body, and then the muscles in her thighs were twitching, and she was trying to resist the urge to squeeze his head between them, and someone was repeating, "Yesyesyes_yesyesohgodyesJustin_" really, really loudly.

Then it was over, and she was panting, and Justin crawled up over her, smiling, and Alex grabbed onto him and hugged him harder than she'd ever held onto anything in her life.

* * *

Author's Note: Figured you guys have waited more than long enough for a bit of Jalex fun. Enjoy!

In other news, I now have a LiveJournal, also under the name "tilante".


	25. Home Is Where the Heart Is

By the time they'd re-dressed and straightened things up in Crumbs' office, it was half-past midnight. Without speaking, they moved together, hugged each other closely, and simply held onto each other for a long moment, Alex laying her head against her brother's neck and shoulder.

She breathed in and out, slowly, feeling the warmth of him, the gentle way he held onto her. "Justin," she said then, "I want to go home with you."

He blinked, forehead creasing in a frown. "I want to take you home with me, Alex. But we have to take you back to -"

"No," she said, pulling away slightly to look up into her brother's eyes. "No, we don't. What are they going to do? Call the police? I don't think they will. Come drag me back? I won't go."

"They won't give me money for food or rent," Justin said, shaking his head. "And I don't have a job yet. We can't, Alex. Not until I have a job, at least. And if they do call the police… they don't have to say why you ran away. They'll ask you why you did, but… I don't think telling the truth would help us, and… do you want to say Mom and Dad are abusing you?"

Alex glared at Justin, then shook her head and growled. "Why do you have to be so… so _right_ about everything?"

He pulled her back against himself, hugged her more tightly. "It's only four months. We'll make it."

"At least take me with you right now. Let me see it again…."

Justin shook his head. "Alex - I know you, and I know me. If I take you home with me, you'll find a way to keep me from taking you back home. We both know you will. Please - go with me on this one?"

She turned away from him, folding her arms. "You mean _don't_ go with you. You can take me home, but don't expect me to stay there."

Justin's eyes narrowed as he looked at Alex, and he tilted his head, asked, "What does _that_ mean? Alex… don't go running away somewhere else -"

Alex rolled her eyes, turned again and thumped Justin on the arm. "I'm not going to run somewhere else. I'll just walk downstairs, out the front door of the shop, then teleport to you. You can't stop me from doing that." Justin tried to hug Alex again, and she pulled away, folded her arms and gave him a determined, defiant stare, chin held high. "And you know me well enough to know that I'll do it. So why don't we skip that, and you just take me home with you now."

Narrowing his eyes, Justin glared at Alex for a good five seconds, then shook his head and rolled his eyes. "You're stubborn enough to do it. All right. But you know - you can be impossible sometimes."

As soon as he said 'all right', Alex dropped the stare and smiled. "I know," she said sweetly, moving back to Justin and taking his arm in her hands, pressing against him. "And you love me."

Justin continued to glare for a few more seconds, then shook his head, letting out a chuckle and a wry smile. "Yeah. I do." Raising his wand with his other hand, he said, "Okay. We're going home."

* * *

When his phone rang, Justin picked it up immediately, expecting the call. "Hi, Mom." Alex lifted her head and opened bleary eyes, then sank back down a moment later, stealing Justin's pillow and putting it over her head to muffle the sound. "Yes, Alex is here with me. No - it wasn't my decision, and it wasn't her decision. It was _our_ decision."

Under the pillow, Alex smiled at that. "She's sleeping right now. When she gets up, I'll tell her you want to talk to her." Justin stood up off the futon and walked to the far corner of the room, then leaned against the kitchen counter, facing away from Alex to keep the sound of his voice down as much as possible.

"No. No, Mom." There was a pause, and then Justin said, "I'm sorry you're angry, and I'm sorry you're hurting, but I'm not going to do that."

The pause was longer this time, and then Justin said, "Hi, Dad. Before you say anything else, we talked to Professor Crumbs last night. We know about - about what can happen, if we're together that way. We're going to wait until after the competition, but Alex is here now, and she's staying here."

There was almost a full minute's pause, and Alex moved the pillow, looked to see Justin still leaning against the counter, his head down as he held the phone to his ear. He was in his boxers, and she looked up and down his body for a moment, then said, "Justin... just hang up and come back to bed. They'll keep you on the phone all day if you let them."

He stood up and held his palm out to Alex, then spoke into the phone. "All right. We'll see you then. But Dad... you're not taking Alex away if she doesn't want to go." He says it matter-of-factly, not in any kind of challenging way, but Alex knows her brother, knows that tone means he's really serious. This isn't about bluster, or posturing - it's a simple fact, that he won't let them take her, and it makes her feel warm and safe.

So this time, she threw the pillow. "Come to bed! You're keeping me awake!"

Justin smiled at Alex, picks up the pillow, made a kiss at her. She rolled her eyes, turned over to face away from him, and then allowed herself to smile. Maybe twenty seconds later, she felt him move onto the bed, lifted her head a little so he could slide his arm under it and snuggle into her.

"They're going to come over at two, to talk. You know Mom - if I didn't say yes, she'd just come over anyway, and hammer on the door until we let her in."

"Yeah," Alex nodded and mumblesd her voice fuzzy with sleep. "An' if we go somewhere, she'll jus' stay 'til we get back. It's okay." She moved her hand onto his, slid her fingers into his grip, and in moments, she was asleep again.


	26. Bad Decisions

The phone rang at 12:23, surprising both Justin and Alex. Awake this time, Alex stretched and grabbed it, rolled her eyes as she saw the caller ID, but thumbed the button and put it to her ear. "Hi, Mom. It's - wait, what? Mom, slow down... I don't understand what you're saying."

Justin crossed the room from where he'd been, over in the kitchen area, cocked his head curiously, but Alex held up a hand for silence. "Okay, I got it. Professor Crumbs is coming, and we need to go with him, and you're sorry, and you love us. But -"

There was a knock on the door then. Justin went to it, leaving Alex on the phone, checked the peephole, then quickly opened the door. Crumbs bustled into the room quickly, giving Alex a nod as he did. "Crumbs is here," Alex said, and then blinked and set the phone down. "Professor Crumbs? Mom's -"

"Get your things together. Quickly," Crumbs answered. Alex blinked and stood up, then looked around.

At the moment, she didn't have any 'things' here beyond the clothes she was wearing, so she simply frowned and asked Crumbs, "Why? What's happening?"

"Your parents had the poor judgement to notify the Wizard Police about you. They are already regretting that decision, but I am afraid that it is too late for their regret to be of much help to you. We must leave quickly. Use magic to get your things, Justin. They could be here at any moment."

Crumbs took out his wand and held it ready, looking about the room as if literally expecting them to appear any second - which, of course, he most likely did. Justin picked up his wand as well, then waved toward the closet, saying, "_Let's go, let's go, pack it up, don't be slow._" A pair of suitcases glided out of the room onto the bed, opening themselves as they did, clothes following. From the bathroom, his toiletries glided in, and his laptop slid across the desk and then into the bigger bag.

Alex shook her head. "Wait - what are they going to do? What's going on?"

"What you're doing is considered even worse by most in the wizard world than it is here. If they catch up to you, they will separate the two of you forcibly, then erase the memories of one or both of you, and place that one somewhere else. Now please, _hurry_."

"But..." Alex frowned as the suitcases finished packing themselves and Justin moved to pick them up. "You said you were okay with us -"

Crumbs turned to look Alex squarely in the eyes, then said to her, "It's what they did to my sister." As Alex blanched, her eyes going wide, Crumbs turned back to Justin, said, "All right. I'm going to teleport us -"

"Hold it right there." Officers Lamp and Goblin held up their wands from in front of the bookcases in the 'study' part of the room. Lamp took a step toward Crumbs, said, "Professor, I don't want to have to fight you. You're already in violation of Wizard Code 43721-stroke-4."

"I'm not letting you take these children," Crumbs replied. "Justin, Alex. Go." Nodding, Justin grabbed Alex's hand, and they teleported away, their last sight of Crumbs him raising his wand, the tip glowing a bright yellow.


	27. Alex's Diary 3

We ran. For three days, we ran. It was the worst three days of my life... and the best. We were together, and we were going to stay that way, as long as we could.

I remember nights spent in hotel rooms, huddled in Justin's arms, afraid to make a sound. We didn't have money, so we sneaked in where we could. We never left each other, that whole two weeks - we were both afraid that if we separated, even for a minute, we wouldn't see each other again.

We slept together, showered together. We stole food and ate it together, hurrying every bite.

Justin never said a word about how we were breaking the law. I know it tore him up, to steal everything the way we did, but he loved me so much he didn't care about it.

We used our powers as little as we could, knowing they could track us through them. When we had to, we teleported to get away from them, then immediately got away from where we'd gone, as fast as we could. Justin showed me how to hotwire a car. It was a blue Mustang.

That was where we spent our last night, in that car, parked off a back road, somewhere upstate. It was dark, and it was cold, but his arms were warm.

Dear God, I miss his arms.

When they turned the power off, it woke me up. I shook Justin awake, and he felt it too - the absence of that spark of magic that we'd had for so long. We knew they were coming then. And we knew something else - without the power, it would be safe.

So we made love, our one and only time. It was cramped and it was cold and it hurt and nothing seemed to fit right at first, and then it was wonderful and I never wanted to stop. But it did, all too quickly, both from the excitement of our first time, and because we didn't want them to find us like that. Not that we cared what they thought, but to have them pull us apart in the middle of that... it would have been the final indignity.

He told me he loved me, and always had, and always would. He told me to remember what had happened in Puerto Rico, and that no matter what they did, even if they took his memories, he would always love me. He would always come back for me.

That was two years ago.

They separated us, as soon as they found us. We'd said our goodbyes, waiting. I told him I'm wait for him for the rest of my life, if I had to.

I didn't lie. I haven't dated anyone since then - I've barely looked at any guys at all.

They took him away, and took me back to our parents. Mom was beside herself, crying and shaking and begging me to forgive her.

I never have.

I left home the day I turned eighteen. Dad left Mom, not long after. She'd been the one who called the wizard police. She didn't know they'd take him, I know that, but... I can't find it my heart not to blame her.

I see Dad sometimes. I see Max a lot. He told me, later, that he knew what was happening with Justin and me, that he knew we were sneaking into each other's rooms at night, those last few days before Mom found us. He said he'd help me, if he could.

I told Harper as well. She was shocked, at first, and then she was appalled - not at us, but at the wizard police, at what they did. I'd be dead by now without the two of them. I've had nights that were so bad, that I just wanted to end it all.

I've gone to college. I'm actually studying, and getting good grades. Can you imagine that? Me? But it's all because it's what he would have wanted me to do.

It feels like everything I do now, I do because he would have wanted me to. And every day, it hurts a little more.

I don't know how much longer I can do this. There's only one hope that keeps me going: when the Council wanted us to take the retest, it was because Aunt Megan hadn't been there.

The competition is tomorrow. The Council knows where Justin is. If they're going to stick to their rules, then Justin has to be there too.

He _has_ to. Doesn't he?

He has to be. Because if he isn't... then all I have left is ashes.


	28. Always Find You

He was there. Alex almost fell over from relief, from the sheer surge of wild emotions that went through her on seeing Justin. In two years, he'd grown an inch or two in height, filled out a little more. There was a scar on the left side of his face, above his eye, splitting his eyebrow in two, and his hair was different - longer, a little unruly, no longer with the peak in front.

But it was him. He frowned, looking at her and Max, then said, "They... they tell me you two are my biological siblings. I'm Justin." He held out his hand, and Alex swallowed hard, then took it, shook it.

"I'm Alex," she said, and she wanted to say so much more, but the people from the Wizard Council were watching. Even through the gloves, though, to touch Justin's hand still tingled... and did he feel it too? There was something in his eyes, when they touched, and it was everything Alex could do not to hug him, not to just grab him and hold on as tightly as she could and never let go.

She let go of his hand, and Max stepped in, giving Alex a look as he did, then smiling at Justin. "Nice to meet you, Justin. I'm Max."

Justin looked back and forth between them, frowning, but neither said more. The instructions from the Council that morning had been clear and direct: _You will not tell Justin what you know. Be grateful that we allow you even this much, to know that your brother is still alive and healthy._

"I've dreamed of you," Justin said then, looking directly at Alex. Her knees went weak, and he saw, took her by the arm. "Are you okay?" he asked, and she couldn't help it - she was crying, seeing that concerned look he'd given her so many times. He still cared. He still _cared_.

"Yeah," she managed to choke out, nodding. "It's just - we knew we had another brother, but I never really expected to meet you."

"You knew?" Justin asked, frowning in confusion, and he opened his mouth to say something else, but it was drowned out as the man from the Council - they'd said his name, but Alex couldn't remember it - started.

He went through the rules. Alex didn't listen, simply staring at Justin the whole time. Max watched both of them, chewed his lip, then finally touched Alex's hand to get her attention, raised an eyebrow in question.

She nodded, and Max nodded back. Justin frowned at them, but there was no chance to ask anything - the Council's speaker waved his wand, and the three of them were teleported to their starting points, forming an equilateral triangle with the glowing ball of wizard power at the center.

"Begin!" the man cried, and Alex ran, ran for all she was worth - not toward the power, but toward Justin, angling to intercept him.

She yelled across the field, calling out, "Justin! Justin!" He slowed, looked at her. "You know me!" she called then. "You know what you want to do! I want you to do it too!"

He came to a stop, looking across the field at her - and then Alex's heart leapt in joy as he turned, ran straight toward her.

And then his arms were around her, and nothing had ever felt so good, so _right_, and she was crying again, and Justin was making shushing sounds, saying, "I've got you. I've got you. I'm not letting go. I don't know you, but... I know I love you."

"I love you too," she got out, just as Max ran up to them. He hugged them both, quickly, then took his wand, started to turn the tip in a fast circle.

"What are you -" Justin started, and Max grinned at him.

"We're breaking this thing," Max said. "Do what I do." He pulled the glove from his left hand, with his teeth. Alex already had hers off, knowing the plan, and Justin blinked in confusion, but did the same.

"Hands together," Max said, and Alex grabbed Justin's hand, lacing their fingers together, and then Max grabbed hers. Max grinned again, then whooped, "And here we GO!" as a whirlwind formed around the three of them, carried them together toward the power.

Alex glanced to the observation platform, saw that the gathered Council members were in a state of confusion, trapped in a sphere of blue light. From beside it, Crumbs gave her a jaunty wave.

She looked back to the ball of power, swallowed as she remembered the tricks it had played before, moving about the field, away from both of them, hoped it wouldn't do that again. _Crumbs may be strong, but he can't hold the whole Council for more than a minute or so._

The ball of power moved. It moved _toward_ them, rushing up to meet the three of them,

and it moved straight to their linked hands, as if it knew what they were trying to do, as if it wanted this as much as they did.

Alex cried out in delight as she felt the power flood into her - as it flooded into _all three _of them. The whirlwind that had borne them ceased, but it no longer mattered - they floated in the air, all glowing, and grinned at each other.

Max was the first to speak. "I love you guys," he said. "Now go!" He shot across the field like he'd been launched from a cannon, toward Crumbs and the Council.

Justin shook his head, then looked back to Alex. "What? Where are we going?"

Alex squeezed his hand, still in hers, said, "You'll see," and then they were standing on a cliff, on a row of rocky hills, a green field spread below them, a tropical forest beyond that.

"I... I've been here before. _We've_ been here before," Justin said, and Alex grabbed his head, pulled him down to her, gave him a kiss that he eagerly returned. It could never have been long enough, but Alex knew there was no time, cut it off after only a second.

"The Stone of Dreams is in there," she said, already turning and starting into the cave. Justin followed, not releasing her hand.

"And magic won't work in the cave," Justin said, nodding. "They can follow us, but we'll have a head start."

"Right," Alex answered, nodding in return, still moving. "We'll get there first. And then - I used it, but you didn't. You can set this all right. We can be _together_."

Justin grinned and moved faster, pulling ahead of Alex, and she grinned as well, happy to be with him, to at least have this moment. Whether they succeeded or not, she knew it was true now: he would always love her. He would always find her.

_Fini._

... and there you have it. I couldn't hit you guys with the previous chapter, and not give you this one at the same time. That would have been too cruel.


End file.
